A Multispectral Look at Oil Pollution Detection, Monitoring, and Law Enforcement

The problems of detecting oil films on water, mapping the areal extent of slicks, measuring the slick thickness, and identifying oil types are discussed. The signature properties of oil in the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, microwave, and radar regions are analyzed

Comparison of Hamstring and Quadriceps Muscle Activity in Men and Women Performing a Body Weight Squat

Multiple studies support the idea that women use a more quadriceps dominant activation pattern at the knee during stabilizing movements which may predispose them to a greater risk of ACL injury. A body weight squat is a common exercise used to strengthen knee musculature in attempt to minimize the risk of ACL injury. However, it is not clear whether this exercise activates the knee musculature in a manner that would not exacerbate the quadriceps dominance often observed in women. PURPOSE: To determine if women are more quadriceps dominant than men when performing a two-legged body weight squat. METHODS: Seven male and seven female Division III collegiate athletes (20.5±1.0 yrs, 176.2± 12.6 cm, and 79.7± 16.6 kg) provided informed consent and participated in this study. Surface EMG collected at 1000 Hz was used to measure the muscle activity of the vastus lateralis (VL) and the biceps femoris (BF), and normalized to the respective maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) for each muscle. Participants performed eight repetitions of a two-legged body weight squat at a cadence of 54 bpm. RMS EMG was computed across a 200 ms window and analyzed for the middle six repetitions at 15°, 45° and 60° of knee flexion during the movement. Hamstrings and quadriceps activity for the concentric phase of movement were evaluated separately, with two 2x3 (gender x joint position) mixed model ANOVAs. RESULTS: No interaction was observed between gender and joint position for either quadriceps (F(1,11) = 0.64, p = 0.54) or hamstring activity (F(1,11) = 1.24, p = .31). As knee flexion decreased, both quadriceps and hamstrings activity significantly decreased. Quadriceps activity, decreased from 41.7± 24.9%MVIC at 60° to 37.6± 21.7% at 45° to 34.2± 22.7% at 15° (F(1,11) = 5.74, p = 0.01). Likewise, hamstring activity decreased from 26.7± 28.9%MVIC at 60° to 20.6± 20.6% at 45° and to 18.2± 19.1% at 15° (F(1,11) = 3.92, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Gender-specific muscular imbalances do not occur during the performance of a bodyweight squat suggesting that such an exercise is appropriate as a part of strength training program designed to reduce ACL risk in women. However, knee angle is a relevant factor to consider when examining muscular characteristics of dynamic movements and injury mechanisms

The molecular genetic analysis of the expanding pachyonychia congenita case collection

BACKGROUND: Pachyonychia congenita (PC) is a rare autosomal dominant keratinizing disorder characterized by severe, painful, palmoplantar keratoderma and nail dystrophy, often accompanied by oral leucokeratosis, cysts and follicular keratosis. It is caused by mutations in one of five keratin genes: KRT6A, KRT6B, KRT6C, KRT16 or KRT17. OBJECTIVES: To identify mutations in 84 new families with a clinical diagnosis of PC, recruited by the International Pachyonychia Congenita Research Registry during the last few years. METHODS: Genomic DNA isolated from saliva or peripheral blood leucocytes was amplified using primers specific for the PC-associated keratin genes and polymerase chain reaction products were directly sequenced. RESULTS: Mutations were identified in 84 families in the PC-associated keratin genes, comprising 46 distinct keratin mutations. Fourteen were previously unreported mutations, bringing the total number of different keratin mutations associated with PC to 105. CONCLUSIONS: By identifying mutations in KRT6A, KRT6B, KRT6C, KRT16 or KRT17, this study has confirmed, at the molecular level, the clinical diagnosis of PC in these families

ISTRAŽIVANJE MOGUĆNOSTI RASTA KOMARČI DRŽANIH U KOMERCIJALNOM RECIRKULACIJSKOM SISTEMU I TRETIRANIH NUSPROIZVODOM INDUSTRIJSKE PROIZVODNJE GOVEĐEG HORMONA RASTA

Gilthead sea bream, maintained in a commercial scale recirculation system, were subjected to three injections (0,5 and 10 µg -1 body weight) with a by-product from the industrial production of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rbGH). Injections were provided at experiment start and at 3 and 6 weeks. Growth performance of animals was evaluated over a period of 8 weeks (n = 171 per treatment). At trial end fish were examined for proximate composition, fillet yield and visceral indices. No differences were recorded in individual growth performance between the three treatment groups (P > 0.05). Examination of protein productive value and protein efficiency ratio indicated approximately 20% of dietary protein was incorporated into animals irrespective of treatment. However incorporation of dietary lipid decreased with increasing dose of rbGH. High dose GH decreased liver weight (P 0,05). Istraživanje vrijednosti produktivnog proteina i količine efikasnosti proteina pokazalo je da je približno 20% proteina bilo inkorporirano u životinje neovisno o tretmanu. No inkorporacija lipida bila je smanjena povećanjem doze hormona rasta (rbGH). Visoka doza hormona rasta smanjila je težinu jetre (P < 0,05) u usporedbi s kontrolom s istodobnim smanjenjem hepatosomatskog indeksa (P < 0,05). Težina i postotak fileta bili su viši u životinja tretiranih dozom od 10 µg g -1 tjelesne težine u usporedbi s niskom dozom rbGH tretiranih riba (P < 0,05)

ISTRAŽIVANJE MOGUĆNOSTI RASTA KOMARČI DRŽANIH U KOMERCIJALNOM RECIRKULACIJSKOM SISTEMU I TRETIRANIH NUSPROIZVODOM INDUSTRIJSKE PROIZVODNJE GOVEĐEG HORMONA RASTA

Gilthead sea bream, maintained in a commercial scale recirculation system, were subjected to three injections (0,5 and 10 µg -1 body weight) with a by-product from the industrial production of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rbGH). Injections were provided at experiment start and at 3 and 6 weeks. Growth performance of animals was evaluated over a period of 8 weeks (n = 171 per treatment). At trial end fish were examined for proximate composition, fillet yield and visceral indices. No differences were recorded in individual growth performance between the three treatment groups (P > 0.05). Examination of protein productive value and protein efficiency ratio indicated approximately 20% of dietary protein was incorporated into animals irrespective of treatment. However incorporation of dietary lipid decreased with increasing dose of rbGH. High dose GH decreased liver weight (P 0,05). Istraživanje vrijednosti produktivnog proteina i količine efikasnosti proteina pokazalo je da je približno 20% proteina bilo inkorporirano u životinje neovisno o tretmanu. No inkorporacija lipida bila je smanjena povećanjem doze hormona rasta (rbGH). Visoka doza hormona rasta smanjila je težinu jetre (P < 0,05) u usporedbi s kontrolom s istodobnim smanjenjem hepatosomatskog indeksa (P < 0,05). Težina i postotak fileta bili su viši u životinja tretiranih dozom od 10 µg g -1 tjelesne težine u usporedbi s niskom dozom rbGH tretiranih riba (P < 0,05)

Discovery of Four High Proper Motion L Dwarfs, Including a 10 pc L Dwarf at the L/T Transition

We discover four high proper motion L dwarfs by comparing the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) to the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). WISE J140533.32+835030.5 is an L dwarf at the L/T transition with a proper motion of 0.85+/-0.02" yr^-1, previously overlooked due to its proximity to a bright star (V=12 mag). From optical spectroscopy we find a spectral type of L8, and from moderate-resolution J band spectroscopy we find a near-infrared spectral type of L9. We find WISE J140533.32+835030.5 to have a distance of 9.7+/-1.7 pc, bringing the number of L dwarfs at the L/T transition within 10 pc from six to seven. WISE J040137.21+284951.7, WISE J040418.01+412735.6, and WISE J062442.37+662625.6 are all early L dwarfs within 25 pc, and were classified using optical and low-resolution near-infrared spectra. WISE J040418.01+412735.6 is an L2 pec (red) dwarf, a member of the class of unusually red L dwarfs. We use follow-up optical and low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy to classify a previously discovered (Castro & Gizis 2012) fifth object WISEP J060738.65+242953.4 as an (L8 Opt/L9 NIR), confirming it as an L dwarf at the L/T transition within 10 pc. WISEP J060738.65+242953.4 shows tentative CH_4 in the H band, possibly the result of unresolved binarity with an early T dwarf, a scenario not supported by binary spectral template fitting. If WISEP J060738.65+242953.4 is a single object, it represents the earliest onset of CH_4 in the H band of an L/T transition dwarf in the SpeX Library. As very late L dwarfs within 10 pc, WISE J140533.32+835030.5 and WISEP J060738.65+242953.4 will play a vital role in resolving outstanding issues at the L/T transition.Comment: 45 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

A qualitative investigation into the cultural master narrative for overcoming trauma and adversity in the United Kingdom.

esearch in the field of narrative psychology has found that redemption—a narrative sequence in which people recount emotionally negative experiences as having positive endings—is a useful mechanism for coping with adversity. Redemption has been viewed as a cultural master narrative in North America, providing individuals with a socially valued script for narrating challenging life experiences. Presently little research has examined the presence and function of the redemption narrative outside of North American contexts. The aim of this qualitative study, therefore, was to identify themes in U.K. individuals’ narratives of trauma and adversity to gain insight into the content of the master narrative for meaning-making in the U.K. Sixty-five participants (57 females, Mage = 21.97, SD = 7.24) with little to no experience of lifetime adversity were recruited into an online survey. Participants answered open-ended questions adopting the perspective of a survivor from a selected U.K. national tragedy, focusing on how they felt survivors could recover from trauma. We identified 2 themes in our thematic analysis that were relevant to recovery: recuperation and redemption. Recuperation was most commonly reported, it was described as a gradual lessening of symptoms over time and the ability to cope with the lasting emotional and physical scars. Our findings suggest that redemption is not necessarily the dominant cultural script in the U.K. for guiding recovery in the aftermath of trauma. (APA PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved

Measurement of [OIII] Emission in Lyman Break Galaxies

Measurements of [OIII] emission in Lyman Break galaxies (LBGs) at z>3 are presented. Four galaxies were observed with narrow-band filters using the Near-IR Camera on the Keck I 10-m telescope. A fifth galaxy was observed spectroscopically during the commissioning of NIRSPEC, the new infrared spectrometer on Keck II. The emission-line spectrum is used to place limits on the metallicity. Comparing these new measurements with others available from the literature, we find that strong oxygen emission in LBGs may suggest sub-solar metallicity for these objects. The [OIII]5007 line is also used to estimate the star formation rate (SFR) of the LBGs. The inferred SFRs are higher than those estimated from the UV continuum, and may be evidence for dust extinction.Comment: 25 pages, including 6 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap