The quadriciser’s effect on range of motion and upper body motor control in children with mixed quadriplegia due to chromosomal disorders

PURPOSE: The purpose of this experiment is to determine the effects that the quadriciser has on range of motion and upper body motor control in children with mixed quadriplegia due to chromosomal deletion disorders. METHODS: Two subjects with different chromosomal deletion disorders participated in this study. They completed a 10-week passive exercise intervention using the quadriciser. Range of motion of the elbow and shoulder were taken pre and post quadriciser use for both subjects. For one subject, hip and knee measurements were also taken. Both subjects also completed a timed reach task pre and post quadriciser use to test motor control. RESULTS: The only consistent changes in range of motion between pre and post quadriciser use were in one subject’s right shoulder and the other subject’s left knee. All other changes in range of motion showed some improvement, but were inconsistent. Reach task time generally increased post quadriciser use for one subject showing a decrease in task speed. The other subject did not experience any changes in reach task time. CONCLUSIONS: The quadriciser may temporarily improve range of motion in people with mixed quadriplegia. However, there is no evidence to support that it helps to improve upper body motor control

COMPOSITIONAL MEASUREMENTS OF SATURN'S UPPER ATMOSPHERE AND RINGS FROM CASSINI INMS

In September 2017, the Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturn system came to an end as the spacecraft intentionally entered the planet’s atmosphere. Prior to entry, the spacecraft executed a series of 22 highly inclined orbits, the Grand Finale orbits, through the previously unexplored region between Saturn and its innermost D ring, yielding the first in situ measurements of the planet’s upper atmosphere and ring system. During these orbits, measurements from the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) revealed that the composition of Saturn’s thermosphere is intricately connected to Saturn’s D ring and much more chemically complex than previously believed. These measurements enable the investigation of the composition of the upper atmosphere and rings, the thermal structure and energetics of the upper atmosphere, and the transfer of material from the rings to the atmosphere. In this thesis, we provide an in-depth compositional analysis of the mass spectra returned from INMS during Cassini’s deepest Grand Finale orbits into Saturn’s atmosphere. This includes four orbits that measured the isothermal region of Saturn’s thermosphere (orbits 288, 290, 291, and 292) and atmospheric entry (orbit 293), which probed approximately 200 km deeper than the other orbits and detected an increase in temperature in Saturn’s thermosphere. Signal returned from the instrument includes native Saturn species, as expected, as well as a significant amount of signal attributed to ices and higher mass organics believed to be flowing into Saturn’s atmosphere from the rings. We identify species present in the spectra using a mass spectral deconvolution algorithm specifically designed to handle unit resolution spaceflight mass spectrometry data when limited calibration data is available. The retrieved mixing ratio and density profiles suggest that many species exhibit behavior indicative of an external source that is likely Saturn’s innermost D ring, and that this ring material heavily influences Saturn’s thermospheric composition. We use a 1-D diffusion model to analyze the distribution of species and calculate the downward external flux and mass deposition rates of ring volatile species into Saturn’s atmosphere. During these observations ring material was being deposited into Saturn’s equatorial region at a rate on the order of 104 kg/s. An influx of such magnitude would deplete the D ring on the order of thousands of years, leading to the speculation that the influx must be caused by a transient phenomenon that could be a consequence of recent perturbations in the region. This influx of material could have far reaching implications on the energetics, dynamics, and temperature structure in this region and could influence haze and cloud production in Saturn’s atmosphere. These analyses are vital to improve our understanding of the interactions between Saturn and its rings, and the results are critical to advance photochemical modeling efforts of Saturn’s upper atmosphere

Titan Atmospheric Chemistry Revealed by Low-temperature N2-CH4 Plasma Discharge Experiments

Chemistry in Titan's N2-CH4 atmosphere produces complex organic aerosols. The chemical processes and the resulting organic compounds are still far from understood, although extensive observations, laboratory, and theoretical simulations have greatly improved physical and chemical constraints on Titan's atmosphere. Here, we conduct a series of Titan atmosphere simulation experiments with N2-CH4 gas mixtures and investigate the effect of initial CH4 ratio, pressure, and flow rate on the production rates and composition of the gas and solid products at a Titan relevant temperature (100 K) for the first time. We find that the production rate of the gas and solid products increases with increasing CH4 ratio. The nitrogen-containing species have much higher yield than hydrocarbons in the gas products, and the N-to-C ratio of the solid products appears to be the highest compared to previous plasma simulations with the same CH4 ratio. The greater degree of nitrogen incorporation in the low temperature simulation experiments suggests temperature may play an important role in nitrogen incorporation in Titan's cold atmosphere. We also find that H2 is the dominant gas product and serves as an indicator of the production rate of new organic molecules in the experiment, and that CH2NH may greatly contribute to the incorporation of both carbon and nitrogen into the solid particles. The pressure and flow rate affect the amount of time of the gas mixture exposed to the energy source and therefore impact the N2-CH4 chemistry initiated by the plasma discharge, emphasizing the influence of the energy flux in Titan atmospheric chemistry.Comment: Accepted in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 6 figure

Abundance Measurements of Titan's Stratospheric HCN, HC3_3N, C3_3H4_4, and CH3_3CN from ALMA Observations

Previous investigations have employed more than 100 close observations of Titan by the Cassini orbiter to elucidate connections between the production and distribution of Titan's vast, organic-rich chemical inventory and its atmospheric dynamics. However, as Titan transitions into northern summer, the lack of incoming data from the Cassini orbiter presents a potential barrier to the continued study of seasonal changes in Titan's atmosphere. In our previous work (Thelen et al., 2018), we demonstrated that the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is well suited for measurements of Titan's atmosphere in the stratosphere and lower mesosphere (~100-500 km) through the use of spatially resolved (beam sizes <1'') flux calibration observations of Titan. Here, we derive vertical abundance profiles of four of Titan's trace atmospheric species from the same 3 independent spatial regions across Titan's disk during the same epoch (2012 to 2015): HCN, HC$_3$N, C$_3$H$_4$, and CH$_3$CN. We find that Titan's minor constituents exhibit large latitudinal variations, with enhanced abundances at high latitudes compared to equatorial measurements; this includes CH$_3$CN, which eluded previous detection by Cassini in the stratosphere, and thus spatially resolved abundance measurements were unattainable. Even over the short 3-year period, vertical profiles and integrated emission maps of these molecules allow us to observe temporal changes in Titan's atmospheric circulation during northern spring. Our derived abundance profiles are comparable to contemporary measurements from Cassini infrared observations, and we find additional evidence for subsidence of enriched air onto Titan's south pole during this time period. Continued observations of Titan with ALMA beyond the summer solstice will enable further study of how Titan's atmospheric composition and dynamics respond to seasonal changes.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Icarus, September 201

Ethyl cyanide on Titan: Spectroscopic detection and mapping using ALMA

We report the first spectroscopic detection of ethyl cyanide (C$_2$H$_5$CN) in Titan's atmosphere, obtained using spectrally and spatially resolved observations of multiple emission lines with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter array (ALMA). The presence of C$_2$H$_5$CN in Titan's ionosphere was previously inferred from Cassini ion mass spectrometry measurements of C$_2$H$_5$CNH$^+$. Here we report the detection of 27 rotational lines from C$_2$H$_5$CN (in 19 separate emission features detected at $>3\sigma$ confidence), in the frequency range 222-241 GHz. Simultaneous detections of multiple emission lines from HC$_3$N, CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$CCH were also obtained. In contrast to HC$_3$N, CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$CCH, which peak in Titan's northern (spring) hemisphere, the emission from C$_2$H$_5$CN is found to be concentrated in the southern (autumn) hemisphere, suggesting a distinctly different chemistry for this species, consistent with a relatively short chemical lifetime for C$_2$H$_5$CN. Radiative transfer models show that most of the C$_2$H$_5$CN is concentrated at altitudes 300-600 km, suggesting production predominantly in the mesosphere and above. Vertical column densities are found to be in the range (2-5)$\times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$.Comment: Published in 2015, ApJL, 800, L1

Селянське і шляхетне, селянське і міське: взаємозв’язок народної та елітарної культури в середземноморській баладі про шляхетну пастушку

The plot of the Mediterranean ballad in the Romance tradition, known under the title of Noble pastora (the Noble Shepherdess), is analysed in this paper, largely on the examples of Castillian and Dalmatian variants. It is emphasised that this ballad is one in which philological criticism has identified the existence of genetic affinity between Greek, Albanian, Croatian, Italian, French and Hispanic ballads.U članku autor istražuje mediteranske balade priču o plemenitih pastira, kao i tekst, što aktsentualizuyetsya semantički aspekt slike žena u smislu seljačkog mentaliteta nasuprot mentalitetu plemenite elite. Glavni ženski lik ove balade smatra se u pogledu obiteljskih i društvenih odnosa