Using PLS to understand potential sources of process variation & assessing medium components to alter afucosylation

Understanding potential sources of process performance and product quality variation in a manufacturing process may benefit from the use of multivariate data analysis techniques. PLS analysis identified some potential sources of process performance variation. For products where antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is part of the mechanism of action, total afucoslyated glycans (Afuc) variation may be important. This work was also directed at understanding current process variability for Afuc and the effect of process parameters that may vary during routine production. In addition, a series of small-scale experiments were conducted to screen several medium components for their ability to shift Afuc. Components studied included substrates and co-factors of enzymes involved in the relevant pathways (de novo and salvage production of GDP-fucose and fucosylation). Several medium components were shown be effective for altering levels of Afuc, however the majority of these also resulted in a loss in productivity. Supplementing zinc (Zn) and cobalt (Co) to production culture medium reduced Afuc without negatively impacting process performance

Upgrade of the Minos+ Experiment Data Acquisition for the High Energy NuMI Beam Run

The Minos+ experiment is an extension of the Minos experiment at a higher energy and more intense neutrino beam, with the data collection having begun in the fall of 2013. The neutrino beam is provided by the Neutrinos from the Main Injector (NuMI) beam-line at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). The detector apparatus consists of two main detectors, one underground at Fermilab and the other in Soudan, Minnesota with the purpose of studying neutrino oscillations at a base line of 735 km. The original data acquisition system has been running for several years collecting data from NuMI, but with the extended run from 2013, parts of the system needed to be replaced due to obsolescence, reliability problems, and data throughput limitations. Specifically, we have replaced the front-end readout controllers, event builder, and data acquisition computing and trigger processing farms with modern, modular and reliable devices with few single points of failure. The new system is based on gigabit Ethernet TCP/IP communication to implement the event building and concatenation of data from many front-end VME readout crates. The simplicity and partitionability of the new system greatly eases the debugging and diagnosing process. The new system improves throughput by about a factor of three compared to the old system, up to 800 megabits per second, and has proven robust and reliable in the current run.Comment: 3 page

Coupling Nanowire Chemiresistors with MEMS Microhotplate Gas Sensing Platforms

Recent advances in nanotechnology have yielded materials and structures that offer great potential for improving the sensitivity, selectivity, stability, and speed of next-generation chemical gas sensors. To fabricate practical devices, the “bottom-up” approach of producing nanoscale sensing elements must be integrated with the “top-down” methodology currently dominating microtechnology. In this letter, the authors illustrate this approach by coupling a single-crystal SnO2 nanowire sensing element with a microhotplate gas sensor platform. The sensing results obtained using this prototype sensor demonstrate encouraging performance aspects including reduced operating temperature, reduced power consumption, good stability, and enhanced sensitivity

Multispecies colour polymorphisms associated with contrasting microhabitats in two Mediterranean wrasse radiations.

Intraspecific colour polymorphisms (CPs) present unique opportunities to study fundamental evolutionary questions, such as the link between ecology and phenotype, mechanisms maintaining genetic diversity and their putative role in speciation. Wrasses are highly diverse in ecology and morphology and harbour a variety of colour-polymorphic species. In the Mediterranean Sea, wrasses of the tribe Labrini evolved two species radiations each harbouring several species with a brown and a green morph. The colour morphs occur in complete sympatry in mosaic habitats with rocky outcrops and Neptune grass patches. Morph-specific differences had not been characterized yet and the evolutionary forces maintaining them remained unknown. With genome-wide data for almost all Labrini species, we show that species with CPs are distributed across the phylogeny, but show evidence of hybridization. This suggests that the colour morphs are either ancient and have been lost repeatedly, that they have evolved repeatedly or have been shared via hybridization. Focusing on two polymorphic species, we find that each colour morph is more common in the microhabitat providing the best colour match and that the morphs exhibit additional behavioural and morphological differences further improving crypsis in their respective microhabitats. We find little evidence for genetic differentiation between the morphs in either species. Therefore, we propose that these colour morphs represent a multi-niche polymorphism as an adaptation to the highly heterogeneous habitat. Our study highlights how colour polymorphism (CP) can be advantageous in mosaic habitats and that Mediterranean wrasses are an ideal system to study trans-species polymorphisms, i.e. polymorphisms maintained across several species, in adaptive radiations

Multispecies colour polymorphisms associated with contrasting microhabitats in two Mediterranean wrasse radiations.

Intraspecific colour polymorphisms (CPs) present unique opportunities to study fundamental evolutionary questions, such as the link between ecology and phenotype, mechanisms maintaining genetic diversity and their putative role in speciation. Wrasses are highly diverse in ecology and morphology and harbour a variety of colour-polymorphic species. In the Mediterranean Sea, wrasses of the tribe Labrini evolved two species radiations each harbouring several species with a brown and a green morph. The colour morphs occur in complete sympatry in mosaic habitats with rocky outcrops and Neptune grass patches. Morph-specific differences had not been characterized yet and the evolutionary forces maintaining them remained unknown. With genome-wide data for almost all Labrini species, we show that species with CPs are distributed across the phylogeny, but show evidence of hybridization. This suggests that the colour morphs are either ancient and have been lost repeatedly, that they have evolved repeatedly or have been shared via hybridization. Focusing on two polymorphic species, we find that each colour morph is more common in the microhabitat providing the best colour match and that the morphs exhibit additional behavioural and morphological differences further improving crypsis in their respective microhabitats. We find little evidence for genetic differentiation between the morphs in either species. Therefore, we propose that these colour morphs represent a multi-niche polymorphism as an adaptation to the highly heterogeneous habitat. Our study highlights how colour polymorphism (CP) can be advantageous in mosaic habitats and that Mediterranean wrasses are an ideal system to study trans-species polymorphisms, i.e. polymorphisms maintained across several species, in adaptive radiations

The effect of laser remelting on the surface chemistry of Ti6al4V components fabricated by selective laser melting

Surface remelting/skin scanning of components is generally performed during the selective laser melting (SLM) process to improve the surface quality of a part. However, the chemical effects of surface remelting are not well understood. In this study, cuboidal parts fabricated with and without laser remelting were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface profilometry and X-ray photoelectron spectrophotometry (XPS). The SEM images showed a low-amplitude undulating pattern was observed on both surfaces. The surface chemistries of the surface remelted/skin scanned (SK) and non-surface remelted/non-skin scanned (NSK) samples were observed to significantly differ in their elemental composition. The thickness of the surface oxide layer of the SK surface was double that of the NSK surface. Also, the contribution of the major alloying elements, including titanium and aluminium, on the surface oxide layer varied for both NSK and SK surfaces. The surface chemistry of the NSK and SK surface was significantly different to a conventionally forged (CF) Ti6Al4V surface. The rate of decrease of oxide with depth was in the order of CF > NSK > SK. Although surface remelting is useful in rendering improved surface quality, its impact on surface chemistry should be carefully considered

The PRO-AGE study: an international randomised controlled study of health risk appraisal for older persons based in general practice

BACKGROUND: This paper describes the study protocol, the recruitment, and base-line data for evaluating the success of randomisation of the PRO-AGE (PRevention in Older people – Assessment in GEneralists' practices) project. METHODS/DESIGN: A group of general practitioners (GPs) in London (U.K.), Hamburg (Germany) and Solothurn (Switzerland) were trained in risk identification, health promotion, and prevention in older people. Their non-disabled older patients were invited to participate in a randomised controlled study. Participants allocated to the intervention group were offered the Health Risk Appraisal for Older Persons (HRA-O) instrument with a site-specific method for reinforcement (London: physician reminders in electronic medical record; Hamburg: one group session or two preventive home visits; Solothurn: six-monthly preventive home visits over a two-year period). Participants allocated to the control group received usual care. At each site, an additional group of GPs did not receive the training, and their eligible patients were invited to participate in a concurrent comparison group. Primary outcomes are self-reported health behaviour and preventative care use at one-year follow-up. In Solothurn, an additional follow-up was conducted at two years. The number of older persons agreeing to participate (% of eligible persons) in the randomised controlled study was 2503 (66.0%) in London, 2580 (53.6%) in Hamburg, and 2284 (67.5%) in Solothurn. Base-line findings confirm that randomisation of participants was successful, with comparable characteristics between intervention and control groups. The number of persons (% of eligible) enrolled in the concurrent comparison group was 636 (48.8%) in London, 746 (35.7%) in Hamburg, and 1171 (63.0%) in Solothurn. DISCUSSION: PRO-AGE is the first large-scale randomised controlled trial of health risk appraisal for older people in Europe. Its results will inform about the effects of implementing HRA-O with different methods of reinforcement

Mars Atmospheric In Situ Resource Utilization Projects at the Kennedy Space Center

The atmosphere of Mars, which is 96 percent carbon dioxide (CO2), is a rich resource for the human exploration of the red planet, primarily by the production of rocket propellants and oxygen for life support. Three recent projects led by NASAs Kennedy Space Center have been investigating the processing of CO2. The first project successfully demonstrated the Mars Atmospheric Processing Module (APM), which freezes CO2 with cryocoolers and combines sublimated CO2 with hydrogen to make methane and water. The second project absorbs CO2 with Ionic Liquids and electrolyzes it with water to make methane and oxygen, but with limited success so far. A third project plans to recover up to 100 of the oxygen in spacecraft respiratory CO2. A combination of the Reverse Water Gas Shift reaction and the Boudouard reaction eventually fill the reactor up with carbon, stopping the process. A system to continuously remove and collect carbon has been tested with encouraging results

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes