A photon-counting photodiode array detector for far ultraviolet (FUV) astronomy

A compact, stable, single-stage intensified photodiode array detector designed for photon-counting, far ultraviolet astronomy applications employs a saturable, 'C'-type MCP (Galileo S. MCP 25-25) to produce high gain pulses with a narrowly peaked pulse height distribution. The P-20 output phosphor exhibits a very short decay time, due to the high current density of the electron pulses. This intensifier is being coupled to a self-scanning linear photodiode array which has a fiber optic input window which allows direct, rigid mechanical coupling with minimal light loss. The array was scanned at a 250 KHz pixel rate. The detector exhibits more than adequate signal-to-noise ratio for pulse counting and event location

Being a Sports Agent: Examining the Profession of Athlete Representation

Anything that remains relevant in society over time faces changes with progression in culture and technology, including goods, services, laws, and especially professions, that may seem strange to imagine life without. The tricky thing about professions is that if they don’t respond well to adaptations, they are usually eliminated if a substitution can be created to yield similar results. This is not any different for athlete representation, which is a profession that has seen many changes but still is a necessary field to prevent professional athletes from being taken advantage of by organizations and vice versa. This is an examination of how modern advancements, controversy, and motivation have collectively shaped the perspective of the field from the opinions of those currently involved in the profession. A survey was sent to several agencies to gather data about the general response to issues such as the impact of social media, aggressive agents, certification regulations, and the future of the profession, among other things. While analyzing the data collected from the survey, this thesis will provide brief background information on the main pillars that sustain this profession. The information offered will provide insight for people who may have a serious interest in this occupation to the casual inquirer who would just like to discover facts about this line of work

Supplementing Biology Instruction at Purnell Swett High School: A Service-Learning Project

Through the support of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Purnell Swett High School, I completed my senior service learning project. At Purnell Swett High School, I tutored tenth grade students in biology. Many of the students that attended the tutoring sessions each week were experiencing difficulty in the course material. My goals of the tutoring sessions were the following: enhance the understanding of the biology course material, assist in test preparation and End of Course preparation, demonstrate and discuss study strategies, and encourage students to strive toward higher education. Many Purnell Swett High School tenth grade students were able to come to UNCP campus to participate in a few abbreviated laboratory experiments. In the chemistry lab, I designed an acid and base laboratory protocol that consisted of a few mini-experiments. The goals of the hands-on laboratory experiments were to allow the students to experience a college laboratory, learn about acid base reactions, relate acid and base reactions to the human biochemistry, and become prepared and excited for eleventh grade chemistry. Overall, the goal of this service-learning project was to positively impact the local community of Pembroke, Purnell Swett High School students, and strengthen the relationship between the UNCP and local public schools

A Future Projection of Hardware, Software, and Market Trends of Tablet Computers

We investigated hardware and software trends in tablet computers released during the market explosion. Market explosion was defined by the release of 4+ devices in a fiscal quarter. We compared a total of 82 tablet computers released between February 2011 and December 2012. Computers were analyzed on processor speed, weight, battery life, and pixel density. Data was analyzed in accordance to the fiscal quarter. Our results indicate the market trending toward a hybrid device between tablets and laptops

Database and Interface Creative Project

This database provides a means for ongoing research investigating several factors impacting the Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina. These factors include the effects of prescribed forest fire on the habitat selection of T. carolina, overwintering behavior, and physical health conditions. The goal of this database will be to help identify commonalities between turtle populations between study sites at the Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve and the Lumber River State Park. Additional goals of this database are to organize several types of data surrounding the marked recapture study. The database will be able to store an array of information, which includes an abundance of environmental attributes allowing the user to process several environmental factors at once in order to analyze data. The use of this database will aid research in drawing conclusions about this declining species T. carolina and provide park management staff with valuable information about the habitat usage of areas being exposed to prescribed fire. The database was implemented using SQL. A user interface for this database was implemented and hosted online using GODADDY hosting service. The directory for access to the database is password protected in order to provide a secure location for viewing and entering information. The interface utilizes a combination of HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript. HTML was used for the basic implementation of the web page. CSS was used for improving the viewing pleasure of the user. PHP was used for connecting with the database being hosted by GODADDY, as well as parsing and running queries. JavaScript was used for handling checkboxes in the simple check box form which was implemented. The user was provided with three means of interacting with the data kept in the database. A free write query box allows the user to run any SQL statement, a simple checkbox form allows the user to click the boxes for the data they wish to view, and a turtle tracker allows the user to track a specific turtle’s location history

Calcium and Zinc Ion Release from Polyalkenoate Cements Formed from Zinc Oxide/apatite Mixtures

Calcium and zinc ion release from hydroxyapatite-zinc oxide-poly (acrylic acid) (HAZnO-PAA) composite cements into deionised water was investigated as a function of HA content, PAA concentration, PAA molecular weight and maturation time. At any given maturation time, zinc ion release was constant until the HA content was at the maximum loading (60 wt%) resulting in the cement matrix breaking up, allowing exacerbated ion release. The calcium ion release increased with increased HA content in the composite until the maximum loading where the release drops off. Up to this point, the release of both ionic species was proportional to square root time for the initial 24-hour period, indicating that the release is diffusion controlled. In agreement with related data from conventional Glass Polyalkenoate Cements (GPCs), it is the concentration of the PAA, not the molecular weight, that influences ion release from these materials. However, unlike GPCs, the release of the active ions results in a pH rise in the deionised water, more conventionally seen with Bioglass® and related bioactive glasses. It is this pH rise, caused by the ion exchange of Zn2+ and Ca2+ for H+ from the water, leaving an excess of OH-, that should result in a favourable bioactive response both in vitro and in-vivo. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006

Adhering Pasteuria penetrans endospores affect movements of root-knot nematode juveniles

Pasteuria penetrans is a biological control agent of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), preventing root invasion by second-stage juveniles (J2s), and eventually causing females sterility and death. greatest control effects for P. penetrans depend on the numbers of endospores attached to nematode cuticles. a method based on digital image analysis was used to record the effects of endospore attachment on the movements of juvenile root-knot nematodes, using a model based on the centroid point. Data showed that the numbers of endospores attached to the cuticle influenced nematode movement. At high endospore attachment levels (20‒30 per J2), nematodes did not show directional movement, whereas nematodes encumbered with five to eight spores showed limited directional movement, compared to those without endospores. nematode cephalic region turns were modelled using a markov chain, showing that P. penetrans endospores affected movements. Less nematodes invaded and established on tomato root systems when encumbered with low (five to eight) or high numbers (20‒30) of P. penetrans endospores, compared with unencumbered nematodes

Circadian Rhythms in Visual Responsiveness in the Behaviorally Arrhythmic Drosophila Clock Mutant ClkJrk

An organism's biological day is characterized by a pattern of anticipatory physiological and behavioral changes that are governed by circadian clocks to align with the 24-h cycling environment. Here, we used flash electroretinograms (ERGs) and steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) to examine how visual responsiveness in wild-type Drosophila melanogaster and the circadian clock mutant ClkJrk varies over circadian time. We show that the ERG parameters of wild-type flies vary over the circadian day, with a higher luminance response during the subjective night. The SSVEP response that assesses contrast sensitivity also showed a time-of-day dependence, including 2 prominent peaks within a 24-h period and a maximal response at the end of the subjective day, indicating a tradeoff between luminance and contrast sensitivity. Moreover, the behaviorally arrhythmic ClkJrk mutants maintained a circadian profile in both luminance and contrast sensitivity, but unlike the wild-types, which show bimodal profiles in their visual response, ClkJrk flies show a weakening of the bimodal character, with visual responsiveness tending to peak once a day. We conclude that the ClkJrk mutation mainly affects 1 of 2 functionally coupled oscillators and that the visual system is partially separated from the locomotor circadian circuits that drive bouts of morning and evening activity. As light exposure is a major mechanism for entrainment, our work suggests that a detailed temporal analysis of electrophysiological responses is warranted to better identify the time window at which circadian rhythms are most receptive to light-induced phase shifting

Psychopolitics: Peter Sedgwick’s legacy for mental health movements

This paper re-considers the relevance of Peter Sedgwick's Psychopolitics (1982) for a politics of mental health. Psychopolitics offered an indictment of ‘anti-psychiatry’ the failure of which, Sedgwick argued, lay in its deconstruction of the category of ‘mental illness’, a gesture that resulted in a politics of nihilism. ‘The radical who is only a radical nihilist’, Sedgwick observed, ‘is for all practical purposes the most adamant of conservatives’. Sedgwick argued, rather, that the concept of ‘mental illness’ could be a truly critical concept if it was deployed ‘to make demands upon the health service facilities of the society in which we live’. The paper contextualizes Psychopolitics within the ‘crisis tendencies’ of its time, surveying the shifting welfare landscape of the subsequent 25 years alongside Sedgwick's continuing relevance. It considers the dilemma that the discourse of ‘mental illness’ – Sedgwick's critical concept – has fallen out of favour with radical mental health movements yet remains paradigmatic within psychiatry itself. Finally, the paper endorses a contemporary perspective that, while necessarily updating Psychopolitics, remains nonetheless ‘Sedgwickian’

New Strategies for Research in Clinical Practice: A focus on self–harm.

This article suggests new ways of approaching clinical-based research in an era of evidence-based practice. Using the example of self-harm, we identify three distinct problems with current dominant approaches to research in this area. These include insufficient clarity about target issues, an overreliance on predetermined outcomes which prioritise behavioural measures (such as self-harm cessation) and an undue focus on treatment techniques. We argue that clinical research requires flexible, user-centred and practice-based methods, informed by a focus on principles instead of techniques. Therefore, we outline key practice-based principles that we argue need to be embedded within clinical research strategies. We then demonstrate how traditional behavioural approaches to research can be enriched with more qualitative cognitive and emotionally based data. We conclude that such strategies provide thickened, meaningful and context-specific research which is more relevant for service commissioners, clinicians and service users