Multicomponent signal unmixing from nanoheterostructures: overcoming the traditional challenges of nanoscale X-ray analysis via machine learning.

The chemical composition of core-shell nanoparticle clusters have been determined through principal component analysis (PCA) and independent component analysis (ICA) of an energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrum image (SI) acquired in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). The method blindly decomposes the SI into three components, which are found to accurately represent the isolated and unmixed X-ray signals originating from the supporting carbon film, the shell, and the bimetallic core. The composition of the latter is verified by and is in excellent agreement with the separate quantification of bare bimetallic seed nanoparticles.D.R. acknowledges support from the Royal Society’s Newton International Fellowship scheme. B.R.K. thanks the U.K. EPSRC for financial support (EP/J500380/1). F.d.l.P. and C.D. acknowledge funding from the ERC under grant no. 259619 PHOTO EM. P.A.M and P.B. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement 291522-3DIMAGE. P.A.M. also acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission: ESTEEM2, contract number 312483.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00449

Draft Genome Sequence Of The Biosurfactant-producing Bacterium Gordonia Amicalis Strain Ccma-559, Isolated From Petroleum-impacted Sediment.

Gordonia amicalis strain CCMA-559 was isolated from an oil-contaminated mangrove swamp and shown to produce biosurfactants. This strain is a strict aerobe that readily degrades an array of carbon sources, including N-acetylglucosamine, cellobiose, Tween 80, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and, like other G. amicalis strains, likely desulfurizes dibenzothiophene.

Terminal zone glacial sediment transfer at a temperate overdeepened glacier system

Continuity of sediment transfer through glacial systems is essential to maintain subglacial bedrock erosion, yet transfer at temperate glaciers with overdeepened beds, where subglacial fluvial sediment transport should be greatly limited by adverse slopes, remains poorly understood. Complex multiple transfer processes in temperate overdeepened systems has been indicated by the presence of large frontal moraine systems, supraglacial debris of mixed transport origin, thick basal ice sequences, and englacial thrusts and eskers. At Svinafellsjokull, thrusts comprising decimetre-thick debris-rich bands of stratified facies ice of basal origin, with a coarser size distribution and higher clast content than that observed in basal ice layers, contribute substantially to the transfer of subglacial material in the terminal zone. Entrainment and transfer of material occurs by simple shear along the upper surface of bands and by straininduced deformation of stratified and firnified glacier ice below. Thrust material includes rounded and well-rounded clasts that are also striated, indicating that fluvial bedload is deposited as subglacial channels approach the overdeepening and then entrained along thrusts. Substantial transfer also occurs within basal ice, with facies type and debris content dependent on the hydrological connectedness of the adverse slope. A process model of transfer at glaciers with terminal overdeepenings is proposed, in which the geometry of the overdeepening influences spatial patterns of ice deformation, hydrology, and basal ice formation. We conclude that the significance of thrusting in maintaining sediment transfer continuity has likely been overlooked by glacier sediment budgets and glacial landscape evolution studies

Evaluation of true maximal oxygen uptake based on a novel set of standardized criteria

In this study, criteria are used to identify whether a subject has elicited maximal oxygen uptake. We evaluated the validity of traditional maximal oxygen uptake criteria and propose a novel set of criteria. Twenty athletes completed a maximal oxygen uptake test, consisting of an incremental phase and a subsequent supramaximal phase to exhaustion (verification phase). Traditional and novel maximal oxygen uptake criteria were evaluated. Novel criteria were: oxygen uptake plateau defined as the difference between modelled and actual maximal oxygen uptake >50% of the regression slope of the individual oxygen uptake-workrate relationship; as in the first criterion, but for maximal verification oxygen uptake; and a difference of [less than or equal to]4 beats x [min.sup.-1] between maximal heart rate values in the 2 phases. Satisfying the traditional oxygen uptake plateau criterion was largely an artefact of the between-subject variation in the oxygen uptake-workrate relationship. Secondary criteria, supposedly an indicator of maximal effort, were often satisfied long before volitional exhaustion, even at intensities as low as 61% maximal oxygen uptake. No significant mean differences were observed between the incremental and verification phases for oxygen uptake (t = 0.4; p = 0.7) or heart rate (t = 0.8; p = 0.5). The novel oxygen uptake plateau criterion, maximal oxygen uptake verification criterion, and maximal heart rate verification criterion were satisfied by 17, 18, and 18 subjects, respectively. The small individual absolute differences in oxygen uptake between incremental and verification phases observed in most subjects provided additional confidence that maximal oxygen uptake was elicited. Current maximal oxygen uptake criteria were not valid and novel criteria should be further explored

Trial protocol for the Building Resilience through Socio-Emotional Training (ReSET) programme:a cluster randomized controlled trial of a new transdiagnostic preventative intervention for adolescents

Background Adolescence is a period of heightened vulnerability to developing mental health problems, and rates of mental health disorder in this age group have increased in the last decade. Preventing mental health problems developing before they become entrenched, particularly in adolescents who are at high risk, is an important research and clinical target. Here, we report the protocol for the trial of the ‘Building Resilience through Socioemotional Training’ (ReSET) intervention. ReSET is a new, preventative intervention that incorporates individual-based emotional training techniques and group-based social and communication skills training. We take a transdiagnostic approach, focusing on emotion processing and social mechanisms implicated in the onset and maintenance of various forms of psychopathology. Methods A cluster randomised allocation design is adopted with randomisation at the school year level. Five-hundred and forty adolescents (aged 12–14) will be randomised to either receive the intervention or not (passive control). The intervention is comprised of weekly sessions over an 8-week period, supplemented by two individual sessions. The primary outcomes, psychopathology symptoms and mental wellbeing, will be assessed pre- and post-intervention, and at a 1-year follow-up. Secondary outcomes are task-based assessments of emotion processing, social network data based on peer nominations, and subjective ratings of social relationships. These measures will be taken at baseline, post-intervention and 1-year follow-up. A subgroup of participants and stakeholders will be invited to take part in focus groups to assess the acceptability of the intervention. Discussion This project adopts a theory-based approach to the development of a new intervention designed to target the close connections between young people’s emotions and their interpersonal relationships. By embedding the intervention within a school setting and using a cluster-randomised design, we aim to develop and test a feasible, scalable intervention to prevent the onset of psychopathology in adolescence. Trial registration ISRCTN88585916. Trial registration date: 20/04/2023

Large-scale ordering of nanoparticles using viscoelastic shear processing

This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by Nature Publishing Group.Despite the availability of elaborate varieties of nanoparticles, their assembly into regular superstructures and photonic materials remains challenging. Here we show how flexible films of stacked polymer nanoparticles can be directly assembled in a roll-to-roll process using a bending-induced oscillatory shear (BIOS) technique. For sub-micron spherical nanoparticles, this gives elastomeric photonic crystals termed polymer opals showing extremely strong structural colour. With oscillatory strain amplitudes of 300%, crystallisation initiates at the wall and develops quickly across the bulk within only 5 oscillations yielding sharp intense reflectance peaks of tunable colour. The resulting structure of randomly stacked hexagonal close-packed layers parallel to the shear plane, is improved by shearing bidirectionally, alternating between two in-plane directions. Our theoretical framework indicates how the reduction in shear viscosity with increasing order of each layer accounts for these results, even when diffusion is totally absent. This general principle of shear ordering in viscoelastic media opens the way to manufacturable photonics materials, and forms a generic tool for ordering nanoparticles.We acknowledge EPSRC grants EP/G060649/1, EP/H027130/1, EP/E040241, EP/L027151/1 and EU ERC grants LINASS 320503 and FP7 291522-3DIMAGE

Deception has no acute or residual effect on cycling time trial performance but negatively effects perceptual responses.

Feedback deception is used to explore the importance of expectations on pacing strategy and performance in self-paced exercise. The deception of feedback from a previous performance explores the importance of experience knowledge on exercise behaviour. This study aimed to explore the acute and residual effects of the deception of previous performance speed on perceptual responses and performance in cycling time trials.A parallel-group design.Twenty cyclists were assigned to a control or deception group and performed 16.1km time trials. Following a ride-alone baseline time trial (FBL), participants performed against a virtual avatar representing their FBL performance (PACER), then completed a subsequent ride-alone time trial (SUB). The avatar in the deception group, however, was unknowingly set 2% faster than their FBL.Both groups performed faster in PACER than FBL and SUB (p<0.05), but SUB was not significantly different to FBL. Affect was more negative and Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) were higher in PACER than FBL in the deception group (p<0.05).The presence of a visual pacer acutely facilitated time trial performance, but deceptive feedback had no additional effect on performance. The deception group, however, experienced more negative affect and higher RPE in PACER, whereas these responses were absent in the control group. The performance improvement was not sustained in SUB, suggesting no residual performance effects occurred

Planning and community development: case studies

Planning and Comunity Development: Case Studies, presents the findings of the inter-university Seminar held on 28?29 July 2011 and organized by researchers from the Technical University of Madrid and the University of California, Berkeley, who were fortunate to have the presence of the renowned Professor John Friedmann. Professors, researchers and PhD students from our research groups presented their works as scientific communications that were enriched by the debate among the different researches who attended the Seminar. All of them appear in the picture below in front of the gate of Haviland Hall at UC Berkeley. This book analyses the concept of planning and its evolution so far, leading to the conceptualization of governance as an expression of the planning practice. It also studies the role of social capital and cooperation as tools for the community development. The conceptual analysis is complemented by the development of six case studies that put forward experiences of planning and community development carried out in diverse social and cultural contexts of Latin-America, Europe and North America. This publication comes after more than 20 years of work of the researchers that met at the seminar. Through their work in managing development initiatives, they have learned lessons and have contribute to shape their own body of teaching that develops and analyses the role of planning in public domain to promote community development. This knowledge is synthesized in the model Planning as Working With People, that shows that development is not effective unless is promoted in continuous collaboration with all the actors involved in the process