Geogenomic segregation and temporal trends of human pathogenic Escherichia coli o157:H7, Washington, USA, 2005-2014

The often-noted and persistent increased incidence of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections in rural areas is not well understood. We used a cohort of E. coli O157:H7 cases reported in Washington, USA, during 2005–2014, along with phylogenomic characterization of the infecting isolates, to identify geographic segregation of and temporal trends in specific phylogenetic lineages of E. coli O157:H7. Kernel estimation and generalized additive models demonstrated that pathogen lineages were spatially segregated during the period of analysis and identified a focus of segregation spanning multiple, predominantly rural, counties for each of the main clinical lineages, Ib, IIa, and IIb. These results suggest the existence of local reservoirs from which humans are infected. We also noted a secular increase in the proportion of lineage IIa and IIb isolates. Spatial segregation by phylogenetic lineage offers the potential to identify local reservoirs and intervene to prevent continued transmission

MoonLITE – Technological feasibility of the penetrator concept

Introduction: While the surface missions to the Moon of the 1960s and 1970s achieved a great deal, scientifically a great deal was also left unresolved. The recent plethora of lunar missions (flown or proposed) reflects resurgence in interest in the Moon, not only in its own right, but also as a record of the formation of the Earth-Moon System and the interplanetary environment at 1 AU. Results from orbiter missions have indicated the possible presense of ice within permanently shaded craters at the lunar poles [1] – a situation that, if confirmed, will have profound impacts on lunar exploration

'Lad culture' in higher education: agency in the sexualisation debates

This paper reports on research funded by the National Union of Students, which explored women students’ experiences of ‘lad culture’ through focus groups and interviews. We found that although laddism is only one of various potential masculinities, for our participants it dominated social and sexual spheres of university life in problematic ways. However, their objections to laddish behaviours did not support contemporary models of ‘sexual panic’, even while oppugning the more simplistic celebrations of young women’s empowerment which have been observed in debates about sexualisation. We argue that in their ability to reject ‘lad culture’, our respondents expressed a form of agency which is often invisibilised in sexualisation discussions and which could be harnessed to tackle some of the issues we uncovered

Linguistic incompetence: giving an account of researching multilingually

This paper considers the place of linguistic competence and incompetence in the context of researching multilingually. It offers a critique of the concept of competence and explores the performative dimensions of multilingual research and its narration, through the philosophy of Judith Butler, and in particular her study Giving an account of oneself. It explores aspects of risk, justice, narrative limit and a morality of multilingualism in emergent multilingual research frameworks. These theoretical dimensions are explored through consideration of ‘linguistically incompetent’ ethnographic work with refugees and asylum seekers, in contexts of hospitality and in life long learning research in the Gaza Strip, and of early attempts to learn new languages. The paper offers a prospect of a relational approach to researching multilingually and affirms the vulnerability at the heart of linguistic hospitality

Laser ablation loading of a surface-electrode ion trap

We demonstrate loading by laser ablation of $^{88}$Sr$^+$ ions into a mm-scale surface-electrode ion trap. The laser used for ablation is a pulsed, frequency-tripled Nd:YAG with pulse energies of 1-10 mJ and durations of 3-5 ns. An additional laser is not required to photoionize the ablated material. The efficiency and lifetime of several candidate materials for the laser ablation target are characterized by measuring the trapped ion fluorescence signal for a number of consecutive loads. Additionally, laser ablation is used to load traps with a trap depth (40 meV) below where electron impact ionization loading is typically successful ($\gtrsim$ 500 meV).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Disseminated Low Grade Glioma in Children and Young Adults

Background: Disseminated low-grade gliomas [d-LGG] in children, teenagers and young adults [TYA] are rare and the treatment outcome is worse than for than for those with localised disease. We present a retrospective institutional and ethical review board approved report of d-LGG in children and TYA treated at the London Cancer Paediatric & Adolescent Neuro-Oncology Service. Purpose: Between 1998 and 2014, 36 patients with d-LGG either at diagnosis or during follow up were identified. Anonymized data were retrospectively collected from the hospital databases and included patient demographics, modality of diagnosis, treatment received, recurrences or disease progression and outcome. Results: The median age of our cohort was 4.5 years and median follow up was 6 years. 60% had disseminated disease at diagnosis; pilocytic astrocytoma was the commonest histological subtype (n=18, 50%). Chemotherapy was the most common treatment modality utilised. The 6-year overall survival for those with localised disease with dissemination during follow-up and disseminated disease at presentation were 77.9% and 76.1% respectively. Progression free survival at 1, 2 and 3 years were 64.3%, 50% and 21.4% and 57.3, 43% and 38.2% respectively. Conclusion: Children with d-LGG treated have a poor outcome. A significant proportion of patients have multiple recurrences or disease progressions. There appears to be no difference in OS in those who had disseminated disease at diagnosis compared to those who developed disseminated disease at a later time point during follow up. Prospective international studies with molecular genetic profiling will help clarify the best treatment approach for this group of patients

Evidence-based robust optimization of pulsed laser orbital debris removal under epistemic uncertainty

An evidence-based robust optimization method for pulsed laser orbital debris removal (LODR) is presented. Epistemic type uncertainties due to limited knowledge are considered. The objective of the design optimization is set to minimize the debris lifetime while at the same time maximizing the corresponding belief value. The Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence (DST), which merges interval-based and probabilistic uncertainty modeling, is used to model and compute the uncertainty impacts. A Kriging based surrogate is used to reduce the cost due to the expensive numerical life prediction model. Effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by a set of benchmark problems. Based on the method, a numerical simulation of the removal of Iridium 33 with pulsed lasers is presented, and the most robust solutions with minimum lifetime under uncertainty are identified using the proposed method