Effects of radiation on charge-coupled devices

The effects of 1 MeV electron irradiation upon the performance of two phase, polysilicon aluminum gate CCDs are reported. Both n- and p-surface channel and n-buried channel devices are investigated using 64- and 128-stage line arrays. Characteristics measured as a function of radiation dose include: Transfer inefficiency, threshold voltage, field effect mobility, interface state density, full well signal level and dark current. Surface channel devices are found to degrade considerably at less than 10 to the 5th power rads (Si) due to the large increase in fast interface state density caused by radiation. Buried channel devices maintain efficient operation to the highest dose levels used

A 4-D dataset for validation of crystal growth in a complex three-phase material, ice cream

Four dimensional (4D, or 3D plus time) X-ray tomographic imaging of phase changes in materials is quickly becoming an accepted tool for quantifying the development of microstructures to both inform and validate models. However, most of the systems studied have been relatively simple binary compositions with only two phases. In this study we present a quantitative dataset of the phase evolution in a complex three-phase material, ice cream. The microstructure of ice cream is an important parameter in terms of sensorial perception, and therefore quantification and modelling of the evolution of the microstructure with time and temperature is key to understanding its fabrication and storage. The microstructure consists of three phases, air cells, ice crystals, and unfrozen matrix. We perform in situ synchrotron X-ray imaging of ice cream samples using in-line phase contrast tomography, housed within a purpose built cold-stage (-40 to +20oC) with finely controlled variation in specimen temperature. The size and distribution of ice crystals and air cells during programmed temperature cycling are determined using 3D quantification. The microstructural evolution of three-phase materials has many other important applications ranging from biological to structural and functional material, hence this dataset can act as a validation case for numerical investigations on faceted and non-faceted crystal growth in a range of materials

Method overtness, forensic autopsy, and the evidentiary suicide note: A multilevel national violent death reporting system analysis

© 2018 Rockett et al. Objective Higher prevalence of suicide notes could signify more conservatism in accounting and greater proneness to undercounting of suicide by method. We tested two hypotheses: (1) an evidentiary suicide note is more likely to accompany suicides by drug-intoxication and by other poisoning, as less violent and less forensically overt methods, than suicides by firearm and hanging/suffocation; and (2) performance of a forensic autopsy attenuates any observed association between overtness of method and the reported presence of a note. Methods This multilevel (individual/county), multivariable analysis employed a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). Representing the 17 states participating in the United States National Violent Death Reporting System throughout 2011–2013, the study population comprised registered suicides, aged 15 years and older. Decedents totaled 32,151. The outcome measure was relative odds of an authenticated suicide note. Results An authenticated suicide note was documented in 31% of the suicide cases. Inspection of the full multivariable model showed a suicide note was more likely to manifest among drug intoxication (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% CI, 1.56, 1.85) and other poisoning suicides (OR, 2.12; 1.85, 2.42) than firearm suicides, the referent. Respective excesses were larger when there was no autopsy or autopsy status was unknown (OR, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.61, 2.14) and (OR, 2.25; 95% CI, 1.86, 2.72) relative to the comparisons with a forensic autopsy (OR, 1.62, 95% CI, 1.45, 1.82 and OR, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.66, 2.43). Hanging/suffocation suicides did not differ from the firearm referent given an autopsy. Conclusions Suicide requires substantial affirmative evidence to establish manner of death, and affirmation of drug intoxication suicides appears to demand an especially high burden of proof. Findings and their implications argue for more stringent investigative standards, better training, and more resources to support comprehensive and accurate case ascertainment, as the foundation for developing evidence-based suicide prevention initiatives

Aerosol-Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposited Thin Films for Space Photovoltaics

Copper indium disulfide thin films were deposited via aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition using single source precursors. Processing and post-processing parameters were varied in order to modify morphology, stoichiometry, crystallography, electrical properties, and optical properties in order to optimize device-quality material. Growth at atmospheric pressure in a horizontal hot-wall reactor at 395 C yielded best device films. Placing the susceptor closer to the evaporation zone and flowing a more precursor-rich carrier gas through the reactor yielded shinier, smoother, denser-looking films. Growth of (112)-oriented films yielded more Cu-rich films with fewer secondary phases than growth of (204)/(220)-oriented films. Post-deposition sulfur-vapor annealing enhanced stoichiometry and crystallinity of the films. Photoluminescence studies revealed four major emission bands (1.45, 1.43, 1.37, and 1.32 eV) and a broad band associated with deep defects. The highest device efficiency for an aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposited cell was 1.03 percent

‘Dead people don’t claim’: A psychopolitical autopsy of UK austerity suicides

One of the symptoms of post financial crisis austerity in the UK has been an increase in the numbers of suicides, especially by people who have experienced welfare reform. This article develops and utilises an analytic framework of psychopolitical autopsy to explore media coverage of ‘austerity suicide’ and to take seriously the psychic life of austerity (internalisation, shame, anxiety), embedding it in a context of social dis-ease. Drawing on three distinct yet interrelated areas of literature (the politics of affect and psychosocial dynamics of welfare, post and anti-colonial psychopolitics, and critical suicidology), the article aims to better understand how austerity ‘kills’. Key findings include understanding austerity suicides as embedded within an affective economy of the anxiety caused by punitive welfare retrenchment, the stigmatisation of being a recipient of benefits, and the internalisation of market logic that assigns value through ‘productivity’ and conceptualises welfare entitlement as economic ‘burden’. The significance of this approach lies in its ability to widen analytic framing of suicide from an individual and psychocentric focus, to illuminate culpability of government reforms while still retaining the complexity of suicide, and thus to provide relevant policy insights about welfare reform

Open Mushrooms: Stickiness revisited

We investigate mushroom billiards, a class of dynamical systems with sharply divided phase space. For typical values of the control parameter of the system $\rho$, an infinite number of marginally unstable periodic orbits (MUPOs) exist making the system sticky in the sense that unstable orbits approach regular regions in phase space and thus exhibit regular behaviour for long periods of time. The problem of finding these MUPOs is expressed as the well known problem of finding optimal rational approximations of a real number, subject to some system-specific constraints. By introducing a generalized mushroom and using properties of continued fractions, we describe a zero measure set of control parameter values $\rho\in(0,1)$ for which all MUPOs are destroyed and therefore the system is less sticky. The open mushroom (billiard with a hole) is then considered in order to quantify the stickiness exhibited and exact leading order expressions for the algebraic decay of the survival probability function $P(t)$ are calculated for mushrooms with triangular and rectangular stems.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Includes discussion of a three-dimensional mushroo

Drug-resistant genotypes and multi-clonality in Plasmodium falciparum analysed by direct genome sequencing from peripheral blood of malaria patients.

Naturally acquired blood-stage infections of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum typically harbour multiple haploid clones. The apparent number of clones observed in any single infection depends on the diversity of the polymorphic markers used for the analysis, and the relative abundance of rare clones, which frequently fail to be detected among PCR products derived from numerically dominant clones. However, minority clones are of clinical interest as they may harbour genes conferring drug resistance, leading to enhanced survival after treatment and the possibility of subsequent therapeutic failure. We deployed new generation sequencing to derive genome data for five non-propagated parasite isolates taken directly from 4 different patients treated for clinical malaria in a UK hospital. Analysis of depth of coverage and length of sequence intervals between paired reads identified both previously described and novel gene deletions and amplifications. Full-length sequence data was extracted for 6 loci considered to be under selection by antimalarial drugs, and both known and previously unknown amino acid substitutions were identified. Full mitochondrial genomes were extracted from the sequencing data for each isolate, and these are compared against a panel of polymorphic sites derived from published or unpublished but publicly available data. Finally, genome-wide analysis of clone multiplicity was performed, and the number of infecting parasite clones estimated for each isolate. Each patient harboured at least 3 clones of P. falciparum by this analysis, consistent with results obtained with conventional PCR analysis of polymorphic merozoite antigen loci. We conclude that genome sequencing of peripheral blood P. falciparum taken directly from malaria patients provides high quality data useful for drug resistance studies, genomic structural analyses and population genetics, and also robustly represents clonal multiplicity

Gene expression profiling of human whole blood samples with the Illumina WG-DASL assay

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microarray-based gene expression analysis of peripheral whole blood is a common strategy in the development of clinically relevant biomarker panels for a variety of human diseases. However, the results of such an analysis are often plagued by decreased sensitivity and reliability due to the effects of relatively high levels of globin mRNA in whole blood. Globin reduction assays have been shown to overcome such effects, but they require large amounts of total RNA and may induce distinct gene expression profiles. The Illumina whole genome DASL assay can detect gene expression levels using partially degraded RNA samples and has the potential to detect rare transcripts present in highly heterogeneous whole blood samples without the need for globin reduction. We assessed the utility of the whole genome DASL assay in an analysis of peripheral whole blood gene expression profiles.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We find that gene expression detection is significantly increased with the use of whole genome DASL compared to the standard IVT-based direct hybridization. Additionally, globin-probe negative whole genome DASL did not exhibit significant improvements over globin-probe positive whole genome DASL. Globin reduction further increases the detection sensitivity and reliability of both whole genome DASL and IVT-based direct hybridization with little effect on raw intensity correlations. Raw intensity correlations between total RNA and globin reduced RNA were 0.955 for IVT-based direct hybridization and 0.979 for whole genome DASL.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, the detection sensitivity of the whole genome DASL assay is higher than the IVT-based direct hybridization assay, with or without globin reduction, and should be considered in conjunction with globin reduction methods for future blood-based gene expression studies.</p

Use of technology in children's dietary assessment

Background: Information on dietary intake provides some of the most valuable insights for mounting intervention programmes for the prevention of chronic diseases. With the growing concern about adolescent overweight, the need to accurately measure diet becomes imperative. Assessment among adolescents is problematic as this group has irregular eating patterns and they have less enthusiasm for recording food intake. Subjects/Methods: We used qualitative and quantitative techniques among adolescents to assess their preferences for dietary assessment methods.Results: Dietary assessment methods using technology, for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a disposable camera, were preferred over the pen and paper food record. Conclusions: There was a strong preference for using methods that incorporate technology such as capturing images of food. This suggests that for adolescents, dietary methods that incorporate technology may improve cooperation and accuracy. Current computing technology includes higher resolution images, improved memory capacity and faster processors that allow small mobile devices to process information not previously possible. Our goal is to develop, implement and evaluate a mobile device (for example, PDA, mobile phone) food record that will translate to an accurate account of daily food and nutrient intake among adolescents. This mobile computing device will include digital images, a nutrient database and image analysis for identification and quantification of food consumption. Mobile computing devices provide a unique vehicle for collecting dietary information that reduces the burden on record keepers. Images of food can be marked with a variety of input methods that link the item for image processing and analysis to estimate the amount of food. Images before and after the foods are eaten can estimate the amount of food consumed. The initial stages and potential of this project will be described

Two complement receptor one alleles have opposing associations with cerebral malaria and interact with α+thalassaemia

Malaria has been a major driving force in the evolution of the human genome. In sub-Saharan African populations, two neighbouring polymorphisms in the Complement Receptor One (CR1) gene, named Sl2 and McCb, occur at high frequencies, suggesting selection by malaria. Previous studies have been inconclusive. Using a large case-control study of severe malaria in Kenyan children and statistical models adjusted for confounders, we demonstrate that Sl2 and McCb have opposing malaria associations. The Sl2 polymorphism is associated with markedly reduced odds of cerebral malaria and death, while the McCb polymorphism is associated with increased odds of cerebral malaria. We also identified an unexpected interaction between Sl2 and α+thalassaemia, revealing that the protective association of Sl2 was greatest in children with normal α-globin. The complex relationship between these three mutations may explain previous conflicting findings, and the data highlight the importance of considering genetic interactions in disease-association studies