Valence bands of poly(methylmethacrylate) and photoion emission in vacuum ultraviolet region

Photoion and photoelectron yields were measured for poly(methylmethacrylate) in the photon energy region of 8–40 eV using synchrotron radiation. Further, the valence‐band structure was investigated with ultraviolet photoelectron spectra and valence effective Hamiltonian calculations. A significant difference was observed between the photon energy dependencies of photoion and photoelectron yields. The threshold energy for photoion emission was found to be 10.5 eV, while that for photoelectron emission was 8.5 eV, indicating holes created near the valence‐band top do not contribute to the ion emission. At the higher‐energy region, the ion emission efficiency was found to be enhanced in the photon energy region of 17–28 eV. The difference between the threshold energies of photoion and photoelectron emission and the enhancement of the photoion emission are discussed in conjunction with the valence‐band [email protected] ; [email protected]

Serous cystic neoplasm of the pancreas: A multinational study of 2622 patients under the auspices of the International Association of Pancreatology and European Pancreatic Club (European Study Group on Cystic Tumors of the Pancreas)

OBJECTIVES: Serous cystic neoplasm (SCN) is a cystic neoplasm of the pancreas whose natural history is poorly known. The purpose of the study was to attempt to describe the natural history of SCN, including the specific mortality. DESIGN: Retrospective multinational study including SCN diagnosed between 1990 and 2014. RESULTS: 2622 patients were included. Seventy-four per cent were women, and median age at diagnosis was 58\u2005years (16-99). Patients presented with non-specific abdominal pain (27%), pancreaticobiliary symptoms (9%), diabetes mellitus (5%), other symptoms (4%) and/or were asymptomatic (61%). Fifty-two per cent of patients were operated on during the first year after diagnosis (median size: 40\u2005mm (2-200)), 9% had resection beyond 1\u2005year of follow-up (3\u2005years (1-20), size at diagnosis: 25\u2005mm (4-140)) and 39% had no surgery (3.6\u2005years (1-23), 25.5\u2005mm (1-200)). Surgical indications were (not exclusive) uncertain diagnosis (60%), symptoms (23%), size increase (12%), large size (6%) and adjacent organ compression (5%). In patients followed beyond 1\u2005year (n=1271), size increased in 37% (growth rate: 4\u2005mm/year), was stable in 57% and decreased in 6%. Three serous cystadenocarcinomas were recorded. Postoperative mortality was 0.6% (n=10), and SCN's related mortality was 0.1% (n=1). CONCLUSIONS: After a 3-year follow-up, clinical relevant symptoms occurred in a very small proportion of patients and size slowly increased in less than half. Surgical treatment should be proposed only for diagnosis remaining uncertain after complete workup, significant and related symptoms or exceptionally when exists concern with malignancy. This study supports an initial conservative management in the majority of patients with SCN

Odour Maps in the Brain of Butterflies with Divergent Host-Plant Preferences

Butterflies are believed to use mainly visual cues when searching for food and oviposition sites despite that their olfactory system is morphologically similar to their nocturnal relatives, the moths. The olfactory ability in butterflies has, however, not been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, we performed the first study of odour representation in the primary olfactory centre, the antennal lobes, of butterflies. Host plant range is highly variable within the butterfly family Nymphalidae, with extreme specialists and wide generalists found even among closely related species. Here we measured odour evoked Ca2+ activity in the antennal lobes of two nymphalid species with diverging host plant preferences, the specialist Aglais urticae and the generalist Polygonia c-album. The butterflies responded with stimulus-specific combinations of activated glomeruli to single plant-related compounds and to extracts of host and non-host plants. In general, responses were similar between the species. However, the specialist A. urticae responded more specifically to its preferred host plant, stinging nettle, than P. c-album. In addition, we found a species-specific difference both in correlation between responses to two common green leaf volatiles and the sensitivity to these compounds. Our results indicate that these butterflies have the ability to detect and to discriminate between different plant-related odorants

Enhancing Perceived Safety in Human–Robot Collaborative Construction Using Immersive Virtual Environments

Advances in robotics now permit humans to work collaboratively with robots. However, humans often feel unsafe working alongside robots. Our knowledge of how to help humans overcome this issue is limited by two challenges. One, it is difficult, expensive and time-consuming to prototype robots and set up various work situations needed to conduct studies in this area. Two, we lack strong theoretical models to predict and explain perceived safety and its influence on human–robot work collaboration (HRWC). To address these issues, we introduce the Robot Acceptance Safety Model (RASM) and employ immersive virtual environments (IVEs) to examine perceived safety of working on tasks alongside a robot. Results from a between-subjects experiment done in an IVE show that separation of work areas between robots and humans increases perceived safety by promoting team identification and trust in the robot. In addition, the more participants felt it was safe to work with the robot, the more willing they were to work alongside the robot in the future.University of Michigan Mcubed Grant: Virtual Prototyping of Human-Robot Collaboration in Unstructured Construction EnvironmentsPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/1/You et al. forthcoming in AutCon.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145620/4/You et al. 2018.pdfDescription of You et al. 2018.pdf : Published Versio

Inhibition of Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis by Either a dwarf4 Mutation or a Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis Inhibitor Rescues Defects in Tropic Responses of Hypocotyls in the Arabidopsis Mutant nonphototropic hypocotyl 4

The nonphototropic hypocotyl 4 (nph4)/auxin response factor 7 (arf7) mutant of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) is insensitive to auxin and has defects in hypocotyl tropism, hook formation, differential leaf growth, and lateral root formation. To understand an auxin-signaling pathway through NPH4, we carried out screening of suppressor mutants of nph4-103 and obtained a dwarf suppressor mutant, suppressor of nph4 (snp2). snp2 had short hypocotyls in the dark condition and dark green and round leaves, short petioles, and more lateral shoots than the wild type in the light condition. The snp2 phenotypes were rescued by adding brassinolide to the growth medium in both light and dark conditions. Genetic mapping, sequence analysis, and a complementation test indicated that snp2 was a weak allele of DWARF4 (DWF4), which functions in brassinosteroid (BR) biosynthesis. snp2, which was renamed dwf4-101, exhibited photo- and gravitropisms of hypocotyls similar to those of the wild type with a slightly faster response in gravitropism. dwf4-101 almost completely suppressed defects in both tropisms of nph4-103 hypocotyls and completely suppressed hyponastic growth of nph4-103 leaves. Treatment with brassinazole, an inhibitor of BR biosynthesis, also partially rescued the tropic defects in nph4-103. Hypocotyls of nph4-103 were auxin insensitive, whereas hypocotyls of dwf4-101 were more sensitive than those of the wild type. dwf4-101 nph4-103 hypocotyls were as sensitive as those of dwf4-101. Auxin inducibility of massugu 2 (MSG2)/IAA19 gene expression was reduced in nph4-103. mRNA level of MSG2 was reduced in dwf4-101 and dwf4-101 nph4-103, but both mutants exhibited greater auxin inducibility of MSG2 than the wild type. Taken together, dwf4-101 was epistatic to nph4-103. These results strongly suggest that BR deficiency suppresses nph4-103 defects in tropic responses of hypocotyls and differential growth of leaves and that BR negatively regulates tropic responses