Evaluation of two NASA biological isolation garments

Biological isolation garments for spacemen returning from lunar flights to prevent contamination from potential lunar microorganisms - evaluation test

Arthur, Warrior Chief

Re-tellings of a selection of Arthurian stories, but set in the 'Dark Ages' not in a fictional medieval time. The stories are told to Anthony, an initially reluctant youngster, by the rather mysterious Mr Rhys who works at the museum below Pendine Hill. Mr Rhys uses items from the museum's collection to bring the stories to life for Anthony, who finds himself becoming more and more engrossed in the unfamiliar tales

Making Common Causes: Crises, Conflict, Creation, Conversations: Offerings from the Biennial ALECC Conference Queen’s University, Kingston 2016

At ALECC’s biennial gathering at Queen’s University in June 2016, participants came together to explore the possibilities of “making common causes” from a host of angles, yet all were anchored in an acknowledgement of the diverse more-than-human relationships that make up our common worlds. The following collection of short essays, authored by some of the gathering’s keynote speakers, explores specific aspects of making common causes. In this special section of The Goose, we deliberately invoke the plural of conversation. We understand the effort to make common causes as a process, rather than a “one and done” act. It is multifaceted and messy; it invites imagination and critique. Most importantly, it needs to cultivate the common ground whereupon these difficult conversations can be engaged

Cybersecurity: mapping the ethical terrain

This edited collection examines the ethical trade-offs involved in cybersecurity: between security and privacy; individual rights and the good of a society; and between the types of burdens placed on particular groups in order to protect others. Foreword Governments and society are increasingly reliant on cyber systems. Yet the more reliant we are upon cyber systems, the more vulnerable we are to serious harm should these systems be attacked or used in an attack. This problem of reliance and vulnerability is driving a concern with securing cyberspace. For example, a ‘cybersecurity’ team now forms part of the US Secret Service. Its job is to respond to cyber-attacks in specific environments such as elevators in a building that hosts politically vulnerable individuals, for example, state representatives. Cybersecurity aims to protect cyberinfrastructure from cyber-attacks; the concerning aspect of the threat from cyber-attack is the potential for serious harm that damage to cyber-infrastructure presents to resources and people. These types of threats to cybersecurity might simply target information and communication systems: a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on a government website does not harm a website in any direct way, but prevents its normal use by stifling the ability of users to connect to the site. Alternatively, cyber-attacks might disrupt physical devices or resources, such as the Stuxnet virus, which caused the malfunction and destruction of Iranian nuclear centrifuges. Cyber-attacks might also enhance activities that are enabled through cyberspace, such as the use of online media by extremists to recruit members and promote radicalisation. Cyber-attacks are diverse: as a result, cybersecurity requires a comparable diversity of approaches. Cyber-attacks can have powerful impacts on people’s lives, and so—in liberal democratic societies at least—governments have a duty to ensure cybersecurity in order to protect the inhabitants within their own jurisdiction and, arguably, the people of other nations. But, as recent events following the revelations of Edward Snowden have demonstrated, there is a risk that the governmental pursuit of cybersecurity might overstep the mark and subvert fundamental privacy rights. Popular comment on these episodes advocates transparency of government processes, yet given that cybersecurity risks represent major challenges to national security, it is unlikely that simple transparency will suffice. Managing the risks of cybersecurity involves trade-offs: between security and privacy; individual rights and the good of a society; and types of burdens placed on particular groups in order to protect others. These trade-offs are often ethical trade-offs, involving questions of how we act, what values we should aim to promote, and what means of anticipating and responding to the risks are reasonably—and publicly—justifiable. This Occasional Paper (prepared for the National Security College) provides a brief conceptual analysis of cybersecurity, demonstrates the relevance of ethics to cybersecurity and outlines various ways in which to approach ethical decision-making when responding to cyber-attacks

Knockdown of piRNA pathway proteins results in enhanced Semliki forest virus production in mosquito cells

The exogenous siRNA pathway is important in restricting arbovirus infection in mosquitoes. Less is known about the role of the PIWI-interacting RNA pathway, or piRNA pathway, in antiviral responses. Viral piRNA-like molecules have recently been described following infection of mosquitoes and derived cell lines with several arboviruses. The piRNA pathway has thus been suggested to function as an additional small RNA-mediated antiviral response to the known infection-induced siRNA response. Here we show that piRNA-like molecules are produced following infection with the naturally mosquito-borne Semliki Forest virus in mosquito cell lines. We show that knockdown of piRNA pathway proteins enhances the replication of this arbovirus and defines the contribution of piRNA pathway effectors, thus characterizing the antiviral properties of the piRNA pathway. In conclusion, arbovirus infection can trigger the piRNA pathway in mosquito cells, and knockdown of piRNA proteins enhances virus production

Observation of the B + → Jψη′K + decay

The B + → Jψη′K + decay is observed for the first time using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb −1. The branching fraction of this decay is measured relative to the known branching fraction of the B + → ψ(2S)K + decay and found to be B(B+→Jψη′K+)B(B+→ψ(2S)K+)=(4.91±0.47±0.29±0.07)×10−2, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is related to external branching fractions. A first look at the J/ψη′ mass distribution is performed and no signal of intermediate resonances is observed

Observation of the B + → Jψη′K + decay

The B + → Jψη′K + decay is observed for the first time using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb −1. The branching fraction of this decay is measured relative to the known branching fraction of the B + → ψ(2S)K + decay and found to be B(B+→Jψη′K+)B(B+→ψ(2S)K+)=(4.91±0.47±0.29±0.07)×10−2, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is related to external branching fractions. A first look at the J/ψη′ mass distribution is performed and no signal of intermediate resonances is observed

Search for the doubly charmed baryon Ω + cc

A search for the doubly charmed baryon Ω+cc with the decay mode Ω+cc → Ξ+cK−π+ is performed using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment from 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−1. No significant signal is observed within the invariant mass range of 3.6 to 4.0GeV/c2. Upper limits are set on the ratio R of the production cross-section times the total branching fraction of the Ω+cc → Ξ+cK−π+ decay with respect to the Ξ++cc→Λ+cK−π+π+Ξcc++→Λc+K−π+π+ decay. Upper limits at 95% credibility level for R in the range 0.005 to 0.11 are obtained for different hypotheses on the Ω+cc mass and lifetime in the rapidity range from 2.0 to 4.5 and transverse momentum range from 4 to 15 GeV/c