Determination of high temperature strains using a PC based vision system

With the widespread availability of video digitizers and cheap personal computers, the use of computer vision as an experimental tool is becoming common place. These systems are being used to make a wide variety of measurements that range from simple surface characterization to velocity profiles. The Sub-Pixel Digital Image Correlation technique has been developed to measure full field displacement and gradients of the surface of an object subjected to a driving force. The technique has shown its utility by measuring the deformation and movement of objects that range from simple translation to fluid velocity profiles to crack tip deformation of solid rocket fuel. This technique has recently been improved and used to measure the surface displacement field of an object at high temperature. The development of a PC based Sub-Pixel Digital Image Correlation system has yielded an accurate and easy to use system for measuring surface displacements and gradients. Experiments have been performed to show the system is viable for measuring thermal strain

Understanding how Characteristics of the Nest Site Affect Nest Success of Wild Turkeys

Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallapavo) are a highly-desirable game species throughout the United States, but harvest records in the northern Black Hills, South Dakota suggest that this population is declining.  We wondered whether vegetation characteristics at the nest site would affect nest fate (success/failure).  We monitored 40 nests during summer 2016 to determine nest fate and 27 were successful (?1 egg hatched).  At the actual or expected hatch date, we quantified characteristics of the understory vegetation at the nest bowl, namely total cover, shrub cover, woody debris, and the degree of visual obstruction.  We compared these characteristics between successful and unsuccessful nests. Successful nests had slightly less woody debris and total cover than unsuccessful nests.  We did not detect differences in shrub cover or the degree of visual obstruction.  Our results suggest that there may be some optimal amount of total cover and woody debris at the nest bowl that contributes to a higher chance of nest success.  We recommend additional research that focuses on how vegetation characteristics found at nest sites compares to what is available.  This information in conjunction with our findings could provide guidance for managers regarding vegetation characteristics that may be optimal for nest success.  Although these data may help manage turkey populations, nesting represents only one part of the life cycle of a wild turkey.  We recommend that managers strive for a mosaic of vegetation characteristics to accommodate the needs of turkey populations throughout their life history

Regulation of Dendritic Protein Synthesis by Miniature Synaptic Events

We examined dendritic protein synthesis after a prolonged blockade of action potentials alone and after a blockade of both action potentials and miniature excitatory synaptic events (minis). Relative to controls, dendrites exposed to a prolonged blockade of action potentials showed diminished protein synthesis. Dendrites in which both action potentials and minis were blocked showed enhanced protein synthesis, suggesting that minis inhibit dendritic translation. When minis were acutely blocked or stimulated, an immediate increase or decrease, respectively, in dendritic translation was observed. Taken together, these results reveal a role for miniature synaptic events in the acute regulation of dendritic protein synthesis in neurons

Randomized Trial of Cardiac Resynchronization in Mildly Symptomatic Heart Failure Patients and in Asymptomatic Patients With Left Ventricular Dysfunction and Previous Heart Failure Symptoms

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Functional analysis of the interface between the tandem C2 domains of synaptotagmin-1.

C2 domains are widespread motifs that often serve as Ca(2+)-binding modules; some proteins have more than one copy. An open issue is whether these domains, when duplicated within the same parent protein, interact with one another to regulate function. In the present study, we address the functional significance of interfacial residues between the tandem C2 domains of synaptotagmin (syt)-1, a Ca(2+) sensor for neuronal exocytosis. Substitution of four residues, YHRD, at the domain interface, disrupted the interaction between the tandem C2 domains, altered the intrinsic affinity of syt-1 for Ca(2+), and shifted the Ca(2+) dependency for binding to membranes and driving membrane fusion in vitro. When expressed in syt-1 knockout neurons, the YHRD mutant yielded reductions in synaptic transmission, as compared with the wild-type protein. These results indicate that physical interactions between the tandem C2 domains of syt-1 contribute to excitation-secretion coupling.This study was supported by a grant from the NIH (MH061876). C.S.E. was supported by a PhRMA Foundation predoctoral fellowship and by a UW–Madison Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Training Grant (5T32-GM008688). R.B.S. was supported by an NIH grant (AR063634). P.J. and J.M.E. were funded by Kidney Research UK, and J.M.E. was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grant BB/J018236/1). E.R.C. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the American Society for Cell Biology via http://dx.doi.org/10.1091/mbc.E15-07-050

Prediction of the Aerothermodynamic Environment of the Huygens Probe

An investigation of the aerothermodynamic environment of the Huygens entry probe has been conducted. A Monte Carlo simulation of the trajectory of the probe during entry into Titan's atmosphere was performed to identify a worst-case heating rate trajectory. Flowfield and radiation transport computations were performed at points along this trajectory to obtain convective and radiative heat-transfer distributions on the probe's heat shield. This investigation identified important physical and numerical factors, including atmospheric CH4 concentration, transition to turbulence, numerical diffusion modeling, and radiation modeling, which strongly influenced the aerothermodynamic environment

Reviews

The following publications have been reviewed by the mentioned authors;Welsh Crafts by Mary Eirwen Jones, reviewed by Roy NashA Source Book of Picture Making by Henry Pluckrose, reviewed by R. HartApproaches to Drawing by Leo Walmsley, reviewed by John EgglestonMoulded and Slip Cast Pottery and Ceramics by David Cowley, reviewed by Michael PaffardPainting by John Lancaster, reviewed by R. N. MacGregorDesign Resource Sheets by R. N. Billington and J. R. Jeffrey, reviewed by Dick SuttonEnamelling on Metal, Oppi. Intracht, reviewed by J. N. AtkinsProcesses by Jack Bainbridge, reviewed by Michael SayerArtists and People by Su Braden, reviewed by Roy ShawMake Your Own Musical Instrument by Stuart Dalby, reviewed by Eric DecorteDesign in General Education by John Harahan, reviewed by Bernard AylwardPainting Without a Brush by Roy Sparkes, reviewed by John LancasterBuilding Craft Equipment by A. Jay and Carol W. Abrams, reviewed by S. R. BlundellPyrography by Berhand Havez and Jean-Claude Varlet, reviewed by Paul Kin

Impact of modulation on CMB B-mode polarization experiments

We investigate the impact of both slow and fast polarization modulation strategies on the science return of upcoming ground-based experiments aimed at measuring the B-mode polarization of the CMB. Using simulations of the Clover experiment, we compare the ability of modulated and un-modulated observations to recover the signature of gravitational waves in the polarized CMB sky in the presence of a number of anticipated systematic effects. The general expectations that fast modulation is helpful in mitigating low-frequency detector noise, and that the additional redundancy in the projection of the instrument's polarization sensitivity directions onto the sky when modulating reduces the impact of instrumental polarization, are borne out by our simulations. Neither low-frequency polarized atmospheric fluctuations nor systematic errors in the polarization sensitivity directions are mitigated by modulation. Additionally, we find no significant reduction in the effect of pointing errors by modulation. For a Clover-like experiment, pointing jitter should be negligible but any systematic mis-calibration of the polarization coordinate reference system results in significant E-B mixing on all angular scales and will require careful control. We also stress the importance of combining data from multiple detectors in order to remove the effects of common-mode systematics (such as 1/f atmospheric noise) on the measured polarization signal. Finally we compare the performance of our simulated experiment with the predicted performance from a Fisher analysis. We find good agreement between the Fisher predictions and the simulations except for the very largest scales where the power spectrum estimator we have used introduces additional variance to the B-mode signal recovered from our simulations.Comment: Replaced with version accepted by MNRAS. Analysis of half-wave plate systematic (differential transmittance) adde

Improving Phrap-Based Assembly of the Rat Using “Reliable” Overlaps

The assembly methods used for whole-genome shotgun (WGS) data have a major impact on the quality of resulting draft genomes. We present a novel algorithm to generate a set of “reliable” overlaps based on identifying repeat k-mers. To demonstrate the benefits of using reliable overlaps, we have created a version of the Phrap assembly program that uses only overlaps from a specific list. We call this version PhrapUMD. Integrating PhrapUMD and our “reliable-overlap” algorithm with the Baylor College of Medicine assembler, Atlas, we assemble the BACs from the Rattus norvegicus genome project. Starting with the same data as the Nov. 2002 Atlas assembly, we compare our results and the Atlas assembly to the 4.3 Mb of rat sequence in the 21 BACs that have been finished. Our version of the draft assembly of the 21 BACs increases the coverage of finished sequence from 93.4% to 96.3%, while simultaneously reducing the base error rate from 4.5 to 1.1 errors per 10,000 bases. There are a number of ways of assessing the relative merits of assemblies when the finished sequence is available. If one views the overall quality of an assembly as proportional to the inverse of the product of the error rate and sequence missed, then the assembly presented here is seven times better. The UMD Overlapper with options for reliable overlaps is available from the authors at http://www.genome.umd.edu. We also provide the changes to the Phrap source code enabling it to use only the reliable overlaps

Effect of QRS duration and morphology on cardiac resynchronization therapy outcomes in mild heart failure: results from the Resynchronization Reverses Remodeling in Systolic Left Ventricular Dysfunction (REVERSE) study.

International audienceBACKGROUND: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) decreases mortality, improves functional status, and induces reverse left ventricular remodeling in selected populations with heart failure. We aimed to assess the impact of baseline QRS duration and morphology and the change in QRS duration with pacing on CRT outcomes in mild heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: Resynchronization Reverses Remodeling in Systolic Left Ventricular Dysfunction (REVERSE) was a multicenter randomized trial of CRT among 610 patients with mild heart failure. Baseline and CRT-paced QRS durations and baseline QRS morphology were evaluated by blinded core laboratories. The mean baseline QRS duration was 151±23 milliseconds, and 60.5% of subjects had left bundle-branch block (LBBB). Patients with LBBB experienced a 25.3-mL/m(2) mean reduction in left ventricular end-systolic volume index (P<0.0001), whereas non-LBBB patients had smaller decreases (6.7 mL/m(2); P=0.18). Baseline QRS duration was also a strong predictor of change in left ventricular end-systolic volume index with monotonic increases as QRS duration prolonged. Similarly, the clinical composite score improved with CRT for LBBB subjects (odds ratio, 0.530; P=0.0034) but not for non-LBBB subjects (odds ratio, 0.724; P=0.21). The association between clinical composite score and QRS duration was highly significant (odds ratio, 0.831 for each 10-millisecond increase in QRS duration; P<0.0001), with improved response at longer QRS durations. The change in QRS duration with CRT pacing was not an independent predictor of any outcomes after correction for baseline variables. CONCLUSION: REVERSE demonstrated that LBBB and QRS prolongation are markers of reverse remodeling and clinical benefit with CRT in mild heart failure. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00271154