Knowledge based and interactive control for the Superfluid Helium On-orbit Transfer Project

NASA's Superfluid Helium On-Orbit Transfer (SHOOT) project is a Shuttle-based experiment designed to acquire data on the properties of superfluid helium in micro-gravity. Aft Flight Deck Computer Software for the SHOOT experiment is comprised of several monitoring programs which give the astronaut crew visibility into SHOOT systems and a rule based system which will provide process control, diagnosis and error recovery for a helium transfer without ground intervention. Given present Shuttle manifests, this software will become the first expert system to be used in space. The SHOOT Command and Monitoring System (CMS) software will provide a near real time highly interactive interface for the SHOOT principal investigator to control the experiment and to analyze and display its telemetry. The CMS software is targeted for all phases of the SHOOT project: hardware development, pre-flight pad servicing, in-flight operations, and post-flight data analysis

Future Decreases in Freezing Days across North America

This study used air temperatures from a suite of regional climate models participating in the North American Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) together with two atmospheric reanalysis datasets to investigate changes in freezing days (defined as days with daily average temperature below freezing) likely to occur between 30-yr baseline (1971–2000) and midcentury (2041–70) periods across most of North America. Changes in NARCCAP ensemble mean winter temperature show a strong gradient with latitude, with warming of over 4°C near Hudson Bay. The decline in freezing days ranges from less than 10 days across north-central Canada to nearly 90 days in the warmest areas of the continent that currently undergo seasonally freezing conditions. The area experiencing freezing days contracts by 0.9–1.0 × 106 km2 (5.7%–6.4% of the total area). Areas with mean annual temperature between 2° and 6°C and a relatively low rate of change in climatological daily temperatures (−) near the time of spring thaw will encounter the greatest decreases in freezing days. Advances in the timing of spring thaw will exceed the delay in fall freeze across much of the United States, with the reverse pattern likely over most of Canada

The sensory features of a food cue influence its ability to act as an incentive stimulus and evoke dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens core

The sensory properties of a reward-paired cue (a Conditioned Stimulus; CS) may impact the motivational value attributed to the cue, and in turn influence the form of the conditioned response (CR) that develops. A cue with multiple sensory qualities, such as a moving lever-CS, may activate numerous neural pathways that process auditory and visual information, resulting in CRs that vary both within and between individuals. For example, CRs include approach to the lever-CS itself (rats that “sign-track;” ST), approach to the location of reward delivery (rats that “goal-track;” GT), or an “intermediate” combination of these behaviors. We found that the multimodal sensory features of the lever-CS were important to the development and expression of sign-tracking. When the lever-CS was covered, and thus could only be heard moving, STs continued to approach the lever location, but also started to approach the food cup during the CS period. While still predictive of reward, the auditory component of the lever-CS was a much weaker conditioned reinforcer than the visible lever-CS. This plasticity in behavioral responding observed in STs closely resembled behaviors normally seen in rats classified as “intermediates.” Furthermore, the ability of both the lever-CS and reward-delivery to evoke dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens was also altered by covering the lever – dopamine signaling in STs resembled neurotransmission observed in rats that normally only GT. These data suggest that while the visible lever-CS was attractive, wanted, and had incentive value for STs, when presented in isolation the auditory component of the cue was simply predictive of reward, lacking incentive salience. Therefore, the specific sensory features of cues may differentially contribute to responding and ensure behavioral flexibility

Neonatal infections with multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing E. cloacae and K. pneumoniae in Neonatal Units of two different Hospitals in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Background: We investigated the molecular mechanism of ß-lactam resistance in extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterial strains isolated in neonatal units of different hospitals in Anatnanarivo, Madagascar.Methods: Bacteria were identified by standard biochemical methods, disc diffusion antibiograms and Etest. Resistance genes were sought by PCR. Strains were characterized by Rep- PCR (Diversilab), plasmid analysis and rep-typing.Results: From April 2012 to March 2013, 29 ESBL-producing E. cloacae and 15 K. pneumoniae were isolated from blood culture (n = 32) or gastric samples (n = 12) performed at day 0 or 2 from 39/303 newborns suspected of early neonatal infection. These infants were treated with expanded spectrum cephalosporins, due to lack of carbapenems, leading to a high mortality rate (45 %). Isolates recovered were all, but 4, multidrug resistant, particularly to fluoroquinolones (FQ) except for 21 E. cloacae isolates. Isolates produced TEM-1 and CTX-M-15 ß-lactamases and their genes were located on several self- transferable plasmids of variable sizes sizes that could not be linked to a major plasmid incompatibility group. E. cloacae isolates belonged to 6 Rep-types among which two counted for 11 isolates each. The FQ resistant E. cloacae isolates belonged to one clone, whereas the FQ susceptible E. cloacae isolates belonged to four clones. The K. pneumoniae isolates belonged to 9 Rep-types among which one included five isolates.Conclusion: This study is the first molecular characterization of ESBL- producing isolates from neonatology units in Madagascar, a country with limited epidemiological data. It revealed an important multi-clonal dissemination of CTX-M-15- producing isolates reflecting both the high community carriage and the very early nosocomial contamination of the neonates

Neonatal infections with multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing E. cloacae and K. pneumoniae in Neonatal Units of two different Hospitals in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Background: We investigated the molecular mechanism of ß-lactam resistance in extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterial strains isolated in neonatal units of different hospitals in Anatnanarivo, Madagascar.Methods: Bacteria were identified by standard biochemical methods, disc diffusion antibiograms and Etest. Resistance genes were sought by PCR. Strains were characterized by Rep- PCR (Diversilab), plasmid analysis and rep-typing.Results: From April 2012 to March 2013, 29 ESBL-producing E. cloacae and 15 K. pneumoniae were isolated from blood culture (n = 32) or gastric samples (n = 12) performed at day 0 or 2 from 39/303 newborns suspected of early neonatal infection. These infants were treated with expanded spectrum cephalosporins, due to lack of carbapenems, leading to a high mortality rate (45 %). Isolates recovered were all, but 4, multidrug resistant, particularly to fluoroquinolones (FQ) except for 21 E. cloacae isolates. Isolates produced TEM-1 and CTX-M-15 ß-lactamases and their genes were located on several self- transferable plasmids of variable sizes sizes that could not be linked to a major plasmid incompatibility group. E. cloacae isolates belonged to 6 Rep-types among which two counted for 11 isolates each. The FQ resistant E. cloacae isolates belonged to one clone, whereas the FQ susceptible E. cloacae isolates belonged to four clones. The K. pneumoniae isolates belonged to 9 Rep-types among which one included five isolates.Conclusion: This study is the first molecular characterization of ESBL- producing isolates from neonatology units in Madagascar, a country with limited epidemiological data. It revealed an important multi-clonal dissemination of CTX-M-15- producing isolates reflecting both the high community carriage and the very early nosocomial contamination of the neonates

Legitimating space: art and the politics of place

Rock art, graffiti, and other emplaced works of art bring people together at specific places. This type of art allows for encounters between people in their absence, and thus presents a range of possibilities for making statements about specific places and those who occupy or visit. This opens the possibility for issues of legitimation to become implicitly or explicitly articulated. However, the legitimate use of space, and the legitimate employment of art, can vary drastically across different contexts. Here, the paper discusses a range of different strategies of art and legitimation in three case studies from India, California, and Spai

Island precipitation enhancement and the diurnal cycle in radiative-convective equilibrium

To understand why tropical islands are rainier than nearby ocean areas, we explore how a highly idealized island, which differs from the surrounding ocean only in heat capacity, might respond to the diurnal cycle and influence the tropical climate, especially the spatial distribution of rainfall and the thermal structure of the troposphere. We perform simulations of three-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium with the System for Atmospheric Modeling (SAM) cloud-system-resolving model, with interactive surface temperature, where a highly idealized, low heat capacity circular island is embedded in a slab-ocean domain. The calculated precipitation rate over the island can be more than double the domain average value, with island rainfall occurring primarily in an intense, regular thunderstorm system that forms in the afternoon to early evening each day. Island size affects the magnitude of simulated island rainfall enhancement, the intensity of the convection, and the timing of the rainfall maximum relative to solar noon. A combination of dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms leads to a monotonic enhancement of domain-averaged tropospheric temperature with increasing fraction of island surface, which may contribute to localization of ascent over the Maritime Continent and its relationship to the Walker Circulation.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant AGS 1136466)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant AGS 1136480

The Formation Mechanism of Gas Giants on Wide Orbits

The recent discoveries of massive planets on ultra-wide orbits of HR 8799 (Marois et al. 2008) and Fomalhaut (Kalas et al. 2008) present a new challenge for planet formation theorists. Our goal is to figure out which of three giant planet formation mechanisms--core accretion (with or without migration), scattering from the inner disk, or gravitational instability--could be responsible for Fomalhaut b, HR 8799 b, c and d, and similar planets discovered in the future. This paper presents the results of numerical experiments comparing the long-period planet formation efficiency of each possible mechanism in model A star, G star and M star disks. First, a simple core accretion simulation shows that planet cores forming beyond 35 AU cannot reach critical mass, even under the most favorable conditions one can construct. Second, a set of N-body simulations demonstrates that planet-planet scattering does not create stable, wide-orbit systems such as HR 8799. Finally, a linear stability analysis verifies previous work showing that global spiral instabilities naturally arise in high-mass disks. We conclude that massive gas giants on stable orbits with semimajor axes greater than 35 AU form by gravitational instability in the disk. We recommend that observers examine the planet detection rate as a function of stellar age, controlling for planet dimming with time. If planet detection rate is found to be independent of stellar age, it would confirm our prediction that gravitational instability is the dominant mode of producing detectable planets on wide orbits. We also predict that the occurrence ratio of long-period to short-period gas giants should be highest for M dwarfs due to the inefficiency of core accretion and the expected small fragment mass in their disks.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 14 pages, including 3 figures and 1 tabl