Particle Removal by Electrostatic and Dielectrophoretic Forces for Dust Control During Lunar Exploration Missions

Particle removal during lunar exploration activities is of prime importance for the success of robotic and human exploration of the moon. We report on our efforts to use electrostatic and dielectrophoretic forces to develop a dust removal technology that prevents the accumulation of dust on solar panels and removes dust adhering to those surfaces. Testing of several prototypes showed solar shield output above 90% of the initial potentials after dust clearing

Antimicrobial resistance in fecal generic Escherichia coli in 90 Alberta swine finishing farms: prevalence and risk factors for resistance

The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in generic Escherichia coli isolates obtained from 90 Alberta finisher swine farms, and to evaluate the potential associations between on-farm antimicrobial use (AMU) practices and observed AMR. The farms were visited three times, approximately one month apart (n=269 farm visits). In total, 5 pen fecal samples were collected per each visit and mixed into one pool per visit. Conventional culture and susceptibility testing were employed. Reported AMU practices through feed, water and injection in different phases of pig production, were collected using a questionnaire

Practice setting and physician influences on judgments of colon cancer treatment by community physicians.

OBJECTIVE: This article compares judgments about the treatment of Dukes' B2 and C colon cancer made by general surgeons to those of internists and family practitioners. Physician and practice variables were specialty, affiliation with a Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) hospital, time in practice, professional centrality (level of participation in cancer information networks), solo practice, and number of colon cancer patients. DATA COLLECTION METHODS: Data are combined from national probability samples of CCOP- and non-CCOP-affiliated physicians. This study focused on 1,138 internists, family physicians, and general surgeons who participated in decision making for patients diagnosed with Dukes' B2 or C stage colon cancer. Judgments were elicited using brief vignettes. METHODS OF ANALYSIS: Judgments of adjuvant therapy are classified as (a) consistent with the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference recommendations (experimental for Dukes' B2, accepted for Dukes' C); (b) accepted treatment for both stages; or (c) experimental for both stages. Multinomial logit analyses were used to examine the association of practice setting and physician characteristics to judgments of treatment. RESULTS: Surgeons and CCOP-affiliated physicians were more likely to endorse the NIH consensus conference position. Surgeons, younger physicians, and those in group practice were more likely to approve of chemotherapy for both cancer stages. The most common position (chemotherapy experimental) was more likely from nonsurgeons, solo practitioners, and non-CCOP physicians. CONCLUSION: Physician and practice setting characteristics, including organized structures such as the CCOP, are possible mediating structures that can facilitate dissemination of standards of treatment

Financial phantasmagoria: corporate image-work in times of crisis

Our purpose in this article is to relate the real movements in the economy during 2008 to the ?image-work? of financial institutions. Over the period January?December 2008 we collected 241 separate advertisements from 61 financial institutions published in the Financial Times. Reading across the ensemble of advertisements for themes and evocative images provides an impression of the financial imaginaries created by these organizations as the global financial crisis unfolded. In using the term ?phantasmagoria? we move beyond its colloquial sense of a set of strange images designed to dazzle towards the more technical connotation used by Ranci�re (2004) who suggested that words and images can offer a trace of an overall determining set-up if they are torn from their obviousness so they become phantasmagoric figures. The key phantasmagoric figure we identify here is that of the financial institution as timeless, immortal and unchanging; a coherent and autonomous entity amongst other actors. This notion of uniqueness belies the commonality of thinking which precipitated the global financial crisis as well as the limited capacity for control of financial institutions in relation to market events. It also functions as a powerful naturalizing force, making it hard to question certain aspects of the recent period of ?capitalism in crisis?

The relation of preventive dental behaviors to periodontal health status

. Current recommendations for periodontal health maintenance emphasize toothbrushing, flossing and periodic dental checkups. The purposes of this study were to examine (1) the effects of these practices on periodontal health and (2) the relationships of demographic and socioeconomic variables with these behaviors and with periodontal health. Adults ( n = 319) in the Detroit, Michigan tri-county area were asked how frequently they performed the 3 preventive behaviors. Levels of plaque, gingivitis, calculus, and periodontal attachment were then assessed during in-home dental examinations. There were no statistically significant differences in these health measures between those with acceptable and unacceptable brushing behavior. About 20% of the subjects reported acceptable flossing behavior, and these individuals had significantly less plaque and calculus than other participants. Over 3/4 of subjects reported having a dental checkup at least 1 × a year, and these persons were found to have significantly less plaque, gingivitis, and calculus compared to less frequent attenders. Acceptable brushing behavior was not associated with any particular demographic or socio-economic characteristic, while differences in acceptable flossing behavior were found among age groups. Frequencies of yearly dental checkups varied significantly within every demographic and socioeconomic characteristic.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75510/1/j.1600-051X.1994.tb00303.x.pd

Vision and Foraging in Cormorants: More like Herons than Hawks?

Background Great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo L.) show the highest known foraging yield for a marine predator and they are often perceived to be in conflict with human economic interests. They are generally regarded as visually-guided, pursuit-dive foragers, so it would be expected that cormorants have excellent vision much like aerial predators, such as hawks which detect and pursue prey from a distance. Indeed cormorant eyes appear to show some specific adaptations to the amphibious life style. They are reported to have a highly pliable lens and powerful intraocular muscles which are thought to accommodate for the loss of corneal refractive power that accompanies immersion and ensures a well focussed image on the retina. However, nothing is known of the visual performance of these birds and how this might influence their prey capture technique. Methodology/Principal Findings We measured the aquatic visual acuity of great cormorants under a range of viewing conditions (illuminance, target contrast, viewing distance) and found it to be unexpectedly poor. Cormorant visual acuity under a range of viewing conditions is in fact comparable to unaided humans under water, and very inferior to that of aerial predators. We present a prey detectability model based upon the known acuity of cormorants at different illuminances, target contrasts and viewing distances. This shows that cormorants are able to detect individual prey only at close range (less than 1 m). Conclusions/Significance We conclude that cormorants are not the aquatic equivalent of hawks. Their efficient hunting involves the use of specialised foraging techniques which employ brief short-distance pursuit and/or rapid neck extension to capture prey that is visually detected or flushed only at short range. This technique appears to be driven proximately by the cormorant's limited visual capacities, and is analogous to the foraging techniques employed by herons

Phosphodiesterase type 4 anchoring regulates cAMP signaling to Popeye domain-containing proteins.

Cyclic AMP is a ubiquitous second messenger used to transduce intracellular signals from a variety of Gs-coupled receptors. Compartmentalisation of protein intermediates within the cAMP signaling pathway underpins receptor-specific responses. The cAMP effector proteins protein-kinase A and EPAC are found in complexes that also contain phosphodiesterases whose presence ensures a coordinated cellular response to receptor activation events. Popeye domain containing (POPDC) proteins are the most recent class of cAMP effectors to be identified and have crucial roles in cardiac pacemaking and conduction. We report the first observation that POPDC proteins exist in complexes with members of the PDE4 family in cardiac myocytes. We show that POPDC1 preferentially binds the PDE4A sub-family via a specificity motif in the PDE4 UCR1 region and that PDE4s bind to the Popeye domain of POPDC1 in a region known to be susceptible to a mutation that causes human disease. Using a cell-permeable disruptor peptide that displaces the POPDC1-PDE4 complex we show that PDE4 activity localized to POPDC1 modulates cycle length of spontaneous Ca2+ transients firing in intact mouse sinoatrial nodes

Physiological dynamics of chemosynthetic symbionts in hydrothermal vent snails

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Breusing, C., Mitchell, J., Delaney, J., Sylva, S. P., Seewald, J. S., Girguis, P. R., & Beinart, R. A. Physiological dynamics of chemosynthetic symbionts in hydrothermal vent snails. Isme Journal, (2020), doi:10.1038/s41396-020-0707-2.Symbioses between invertebrate animals and chemosynthetic bacteria form the basis of hydrothermal vent ecosystems worldwide. In the Lau Basin, deep-sea vent snails of the genus Alviniconcha associate with either Gammaproteobacteria (A. kojimai, A. strummeri) or Campylobacteria (A. boucheti) that use sulfide and/or hydrogen as energy sources. While the A. boucheti host–symbiont combination (holobiont) dominates at vents with higher concentrations of sulfide and hydrogen, the A. kojimai and A. strummeri holobionts are more abundant at sites with lower concentrations of these reductants. We posit that adaptive differences in symbiont physiology and gene regulation might influence the observed niche partitioning between host taxa. To test this hypothesis, we used high-pressure respirometers to measure symbiont metabolic rates and examine changes in gene expression among holobionts exposed to in situ concentrations of hydrogen (H2: ~25 µM) or hydrogen sulfide (H2S: ~120 µM). The campylobacterial symbiont exhibited the lowest rate of H2S oxidation but the highest rate of H2 oxidation, with fewer transcriptional changes and less carbon fixation relative to the gammaproteobacterial symbionts under each experimental condition. These data reveal potential physiological adaptations among symbiont types, which may account for the observed net differences in metabolic activity and contribute to the observed niche segregation among holobionts.We thank the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the crew of the R/V Falkor and the pilots of the ROV ROPOS for facilitating the sample collections and shipboard experiments, and the Broad Institute Microbial ‘Omics Core for preparing and sequencing the transcriptomic libraries. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Numbers NSF OCE-1536653 (to PRG), OCE-1536331 (to RAB and JSS), OCE-1819530 and OCE-1736932 (to RAB)

Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D* transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure

Life events and travel behavior exploring the interrelationship using UK Household Longitudinal Study data

Recent research has indicated that changes in travel behavior are more likely at the time of major life events. However, much remains to be learned about the extent to which different life events trigger behavioral change and the conditions under which life events are more likely to trigger change. The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) offers a previously unavailable opportunity to investigate this topic for a large, representative sample of the UK population. UKHLS data were also linked to local spatial data drawn from the census and other sources to elucidate the effect of the spatial context on changes to travel behavior in association with life events. Findings from an exploratory analysis of data from UKHLS Waves 1 and 2 are presented first Transition tables demonstrate a strong association between changes in car ownership and commute mode and the following life events: employment changes, residential relocation, retirement, the birth of children, and changes in household structure. The results of logit models that relate the probability of an increase and a decrease in the number of cars owned to the occurrence of life events and that control for individual and household characteristics and spatial context are then shown. These models show, for example, that moves to urban and rural areas have contrasting effects on travel behavior and that having a new child in itself is not a significant influence on car ownership in the short term