The Effect of Particle Strength on the Ballistic Resistance of Shear Thickening Fluids

The response of shear thickening fluids (STFs) under ballistic impact has received considerable attention due to its field-responsive nature. While efforts have primarily focused on the response of traditional ballistic fabrics impregnated with fluids, the response of pure STFs to penetration has received limited attention. In the present study, the ballistic response of pure STFs is investigated and the effect of fluid density and particle strength on ballistic performance is isolated. The loss of ballistic resistance of STFs at higher impact velocities is governed by particle strength, indicating the range of velocities over which they may provide effective armor solutions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Nucleolar Localization of HIV-1 Rev Is Required, Yet Insufficient for Production of Infectious Viral Particles.

Combination antiretroviral therapy fails in complete suppression of HIV-1 due to drug resistance and persistent latency. Novel therapeutic intervention requires knowledge of intracellular pathways responsible for viral replication, specifically those untargeted by antiretroviral drugs. An understudied phenomenon is the nucleolar localization of Rev phosphoprotein, which completes nucleocytoplasmic transport of unspliced/partially spliced HIV mRNA through multimerization with intronic cis-acting targets-the Rev-response element (RRE). Rev contains a nucleolar localization signal (NoLS) comprising the COOH terminus of the arginine-rich motif for accumulation within nucleoli-speculated as the interaction ground for Rev with cellular proteins mediating mRNA-independent nuclear export and splicing. Functionality of Rev nucleolar access during HIV-1 production and infection was investigated in the context of deletion and single-point mutations within Rev-NoLS. Mutations induced upon Rev-NoLS are hypothesized to inactivate the HIV-1 infectious cycle. HIV-1HXB2 replication ceased with Rev mutations lacking nucleolar access due to loss or replacement of multiple arginine residues. Rev mutations missing single arginine residues remained strictly nucleolar in pattern and participated in proviral production, however, with reduced efficiency. Viral RNA packaging also decreased in efficiency after expression of nucleolar-localizing mutations. These results were observed during propagation of variant HIV-1NL4-3 containing nucleolar-localizing mutations within the viral backbone (M4, M5, and M6). Lentiviral particles produced with Rev single-point mutations were transducible at extremely low frequency. Similarly, HIV-1NL4-3 Rev-NoLS variants lost infectivity, unlike virulent WT (wild type) HIV-1NL4-3. HIV-1NL4-3 variants were capable of CD4+ host entry and reverse transcription as WT HIV-1NL4-3, but lacked ability to complete a full infectious cycle. We currently reveal that viral integration is deregulated in the presence of Rev-NoLS mutations

Solutions to axion electrodynamics in various geometries

Recently there has been a surge of new experimental proposals to search for ultralight axion dark matter with axion mass, m_{a}≲1  μeV. Many of these proposals search for small oscillating magnetic fields induced in or around a large static magnetic field. Lately, there has been interest in alternate detection schemes which search for oscillating electric fields in a similar setup. In this paper, we explicitly solve Maxwell’s equations in a simplified geometry and demonstrate that in this mass range, the axion-induced electric fields are heavily suppressed by boundary conditions. Unfortunately, experimentally measuring axion-induced electric fields is not feasible in this mass regime using the currently proposed setups with static primary fields. We show that at larger axion masses, induced electric fields are not suppressed, but boundary effects may still be relevant for an experiment’s sensitivity. We then make a general argument about a generic detector configuration with a static magnetic field to show that the electric fields are always suppressed in the limit of large wavelength.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award No. 1806440

Reinforcing Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor Standards

In response to pressure from various stakeholders, many transnational businesses have developed codes of conduct and monitoring systems to ensure that working conditions in their supply chain factories meet global labor standards. Many observers have questioned whether these codes of conduct have any impact on working conditions or are merely a marketing tool to deflect criticism of valuable global brands. Using a proprietary dataset from one of the world’s largest social auditors, containing audit-level data for 31,915 audits of 14,922 establishments in 43 countries on behalf of 689 clients in 33 countries, we conduct one of the first large-scale comparative studies of adherence to labor codes of conduct to determine what combination of institutional conditions promotes compliance with the global labor standards embodied in codes. We find that these private transnational governance tools are most effective when they are embedded in states that have made binding domestic and international legal commitments to protect workers’ rights and that have high levels of press freedom and nongovernmental organization activity. Taken together, these findings suggest the importance of multiple, robust, overlapping, and reinforcing governance regimes to meaningful transnational regulation

A SEARCH FOR ELECTRON ANTINEUTRINOS ASSOCIATED WITH GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE EVENTS GW150914 AND GW151226 USING KAMLAND

We present a search, using KamLAND, a kiloton-scale anti-neutrino detector, for low-energy anti-neutrino events that were coincident with the gravitational-wave (GW) events GW150914 and GW151226, and the candidate event LVT151012. We find no inverse beta-decay neutrino events within ±500 s of either GW signal. This non-detection is used to constrain the electron anti-neutrino fluence and the total integrated luminosity of the astrophysical sources.United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG03-00ER41138)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-AC02- 05CH11231)United States. Department of Energy (Grant DE-FG02-01ER41166

Pédagogie par la simulation clinique haute fidélité dans la formation collégiale en santé : préparation clinique, interdisciplinarité et intégration au curriculum : rapport de recherche

Recherche subventionnée par le ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie dans le cadre du Programme d'aide à la recherche sur l'enseignement et l'apprentissage (PAREA)

Pédagogie par la simulation clinique haute fidélité dans la formation collégiale en santé : préparation clinique, interdisciplinarité et intégration au curriculum : rapport de recherche /

Recherche subventionnée par le ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche, de la Science et de la Technologie dans le cadre du Programme d'aide à la recherche sur l'enseignement et l'apprentissage (PAREA)

Dermal fibroblasts from patients with Parkinson’s disease have normal GCase activity and autophagy compared to patients with PD and GBA mutations

Background: Recently, the development of Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been linked to a number of genetic risk factors, of which the most common is glucocerebrosidase (GBA) mutations. Methods: We investigated PD and Gaucher Disease (GD) patient derived skin fibroblasts using biochemistry assays. Results: PD patient derived skin fibroblasts have normal glucocerebrosidase (GCase) activity, whilst patients with PD and GBA mutations have a selective deficit in GCase enzyme activity and impaired autophagic flux. Conclusions: This data suggests that only PD patients with a GBA mutation have altered GCase activity and autophagy, which may explain their more rapid clinical progression.We are grateful to an NIHR award of a Biomedical Research Centre to Addenbrookes Hospital and the University of Cambridge. We are also grateful to the Rosetrees Trust, the WT-MRC Stem Cell Institute and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) fellowship (358492) for the funding for this work

A Feasibility Study of a Program Integrating Mindfulness, Yoga, Positive Psychology, and Emotional Intelligence in Tertiary‑Level Student Musicians

Objectives Higher education student musicians face high physical, psychological, and emotional demands affecting their well-being and academic experience. This study examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of the so-called CRAFT program, based on mindfulness, yoga, positive psychology, and emotional intelligence, to improve psychological well-being, psychological distress, emotional regulation, and physical flexibility amongst tertiary education student musicians. Methods Using a single-arm pre-post study design, student musicians (n = 25) at a royal conservatory of music in Spain followed a 25-week CRAFT program that was curricularly implemented during the academic year 2018/2019, once a week for 50 min. The outcome measures included were the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), the Subjective Psychological Well-Being Subscale (SPWS), the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), and the Sit and Reach Test (SRT). Results Paired samples t-test and practical significance analyses revealed significant improvements for the total scale of the FFMQ (g = 0.28), the Observe (g = 0.44) and Describe (g = 0.38) subscales of the FFMQ, the SPWS (g = 0.32), the Reappraisal subscale of the ERQ (g = 0.43), and the SRT (g = 0.39). A similar pattern of results was observed in a filtered sample (n = 15) when excluding participants simultaneously engaged in yoga/meditation activities other than the CRAFT program. Conclusions These results indicated that the CRAFT program is a promising intervention for improving mindfulness skills and health and well-being states and abilities amongst higher education student musicians. Further research is needed to substantiate these findings and extend them to similar settings and populations with complex psychophysical concerns.Junta de Andalucia PIV-052/1