Effect of flood basalt stratigraphy on seismic waveforms recorded offshore Faroe Islands

The generation of short-period multiples between highly heterogeneous layers of basalt flows can strongly alter transmitted seismic wavefields. These layers filter and modify penetrating waves, producing apparent attenuation and phase changes in the observed waveforms. We investigated the waveform and apparent phase changes of the primary seismic signal using mainly the maximum kurtosis approach. We compared the seismic recordings from two short-offset vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) with synthetic seismograms, generated from sonic logs in the same wells, and we found that short-period multiples cause a rapid broadening of the primary arrivals and strong apparent phase changes within a short depth interval below the top of the basalt flows. Relatively large uncertainties were associated with estimating constant phase shifts of the seismic arrivals within the topmost 250 m of the basalt sequences, where complex scattering occurred. Within this interval of the Brugdan I well, a phase-only compensation of the first arrivals with a frequency-independent, combined scattering, and intrinsic attenuation operator was unfeasible. At a greater depth, we found that the phase shifts, predicted by a VSP-derived effective Q value, were similar to those estimated from the VSP signals using the kurtosis method. Thus, phase-only compensation with a combined scattering and intrinsic attenuation operator could work well depending on the seismic signal bandwidth and the distribution, depth, and magnitude of the impedance contrasts in the basalt sequence

Quick Attach Docking Interface for Lunar Electric Rover

The NASA Lunar Electric Rover (LER) has been developed at Johnson Space Center as a next generation mobility platform. Based upon a twelve wheel omni-directional chassis with active suspension the LER introduces a number of novel capabilities for lunar exploration in both manned and unmanned scenarios. Besides being the primary vehicle for astronauts on the lunar surface, LER will perform tasks such as lunar regolith handling (to include dozing, grading, and excavation), equipment transport, and science operations. In an effort to support these additional tasks a team at the Kennedy Space Center has produced a universal attachment interface for LER known as the Quick Attach. The Quick Attach is a compact system that has been retro-fitted to the rear of the LER giving it the ability to dock and undock on the fly with various implements. The Quick Attach utilizes a two stage docking approach; the first is a mechanical mate which aligns and latches a passive set of hooks on an implement with an actuated cam surface on LER. The mechanical stage is tolerant to misalignment between the implement and the LER during docking and once the implement is captured a preload is applied to ensure a positive lock. The second stage is an umbilical connection which consists of a dust resistant enclosure housing a compliant mechanism that is optionally actuated to mate electrical and fluid connections for suitable implements. The Quick Attach system was designed with the largest foreseen input loads considered including excavation operations and large mass utility attachments. The Quick Attach system was demonstrated at the Desert Research And Technology Studies (D-RA TS) field test in Flagstaff, AZ along with the lightweight dozer blade LANCE. The LANCE blade is the first implement to utilize the Quick Attach interface and demonstrated the tolerance, speed, and strength of the system in a lunar analog environment

Human papillomavirus vaccine and behavioural disinhibition

Objectives—We sought to identify characteristics of parents who believe in sexual disinhibition and that Pap smears can safely be stopped after females receive HPV vaccine. Methods—We surveyed 647 parents of adolescent girls living in areas of North Carolina with elevated rates of cervical cancer. We report data primarily from a survey conducted in Fall 2008. Results—Only 16% (101/647) of parents agreed that teenage girls who receive HPV vaccine may be more likely to have sex. Parents who believed in vaccine-induced sexual disinhibition were more likely to be older (OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.09, 3.26) or report conservative political views (OR 2.26; 95% CI 1.37, 3.73). Parents were less likely to believe in sexual disinhibition if they had greater knowledge about HPV vaccine (OR 0.52; 95% CI 0.32 0.85) or if their daughters had received HPV vaccine (OR 0.31; 95% CI 0.17, 0.57). While few parents (5%, 30/647) believed that women could safely stop getting regular Pap smears after receiving HPV vaccine, this belief was somewhat more common among racial and ethnic minority parents (16%) and among fathers (13%). Conclusions—Few parents believed that HPV vaccine is likely to lead to increased sexual activity among females or reduce the need for vaccinated women to have regular Pap smears in the future. Characterizing parents who hold beliefs in behavioral disinhibition is important as clinicians encountering parents in practice may desire information about this population

Soft Contributions to Hard Pion Photoproduction

Hard, or high transverse momentum, pion photoproduction can be a tool for probing the parton structure of the beam and target. We estimate the soft contributions to this process, with an eye toward delineating the region where perturbatively calculable processes dominate. Our soft process estimate is based on vector meson dominance and data based parameterizations of semiexclusive hadronic cross sections. We find that soft processes dominate in single pion photoproduction somewhat past 2 GeV transverse momentum at a few times 10 GeV incoming energy. The recent polarization asymmetry data is consistent with the perturbative asymmetry being diluted by polarization insensitive soft processes. Determining the polarized gluon distribution using hard pion photoproduction appears feasible with a few hundred GeV incoming energy (in the target rest frame).Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Zero Horizontal Reaction Force Excavator

An excavator includes a mobile chassis with a first bucket drum and a second bucket drum coupled thereto. The first bucket drum and second bucket drum are coupled to the chassis for positioning thereof on the surface at opposing ends of the chassis. Each first scoop on the first bucket drum is a mirror image of one second scoop on the second bucket drum when (i) the first bucket drum and second bucket drum are on the surface adjacent opposing ends of the chassis, and (ii) the first bucket drum is rotated in one direction and the second bucket drum is simultaneously rotated in an opposing direction

A Neural Circuit Arbitrates between Persistence and Withdrawal in Hungry Drosophila

In pursuit of food, hungry animals mobilize significant energy resources and overcome exhaustion and fear. How need and motivation control the decision to continue or change behavior is not understood. Using a single fly treadmill, we show that hungry flies persistently track a food odor and increase their effort over repeated trials in the absence of reward suggesting that need dominates negative experience. We further show that odor tracking is regulated by two mushroom body output neurons (MBONs) connecting the MB to the lateral horn. These MBONs, together with dopaminergic neurons and Dop1R2 signaling, control behavioral persistence. Conversely, an octopaminergic neuron, VPM4, which directly innervates one of the MBONs, acts as a brake on odor tracking by connecting feeding and olfaction. Together, our data suggest a function for the MB in internal state-dependent expression of behavior that can be suppressed by external inputs conveying a competing behavioral drive