IR Barcode Reader

BrandWatch Technologies is a company based in Portland, Oregon that seek to detect counterfeit products in the supply chain. BrandWatch has created a taggant material, a physical marker, that can be printed over barcodes or added to the ink used to print the barcodes themselves. This material, while invisible to the naked eye, is detectable using technology that they have developed. BrandWatch enlisted the help of a four man team of Cal Poly Mechanical Engineering students to combine this technology with that of a barcode scanner. The device, capable of scanning barcodes, detecting the presence of the taggant material, and relaying this information to the user is the end result of this project. The device is easily modifiable to request a taggant read or barcode scan first. A user simply has to pull the trigger and is walked through the process of scanning and reading via LCD screen prompts on the back of the handheld device. The data collected (both barcode and the presence of the taggant) is stored in a csv file on a small USB drive on the back of the device. This can easily be removed to transfer the data to a computer at the end of a work day

Enrichment of Fusobacteria in Sea Surface Oil Slicks from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill led to rapid microbial community shifts in the Gulf of Mexico, including the formation of unprecedented quantities of marine oil snow (MOS) and of a massive subsurface oil plume. The major taxa that bloomed in sea surface oil slicks during the spill included Cycloclasticus, and to a lesser extent Halomonas, Alteromonas, and Pseudoalteromonas—organisms that grow and degrade oil hydrocarbons aerobically. Here, we show that sea surface oil slicks at DWH contained obligate and facultative anaerobic taxa, including members of the obligate anaerobic phylum Fusobacteria that are commonly found in marine sediment environments. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed that Fusobacteria were strongly selected for when sea surface oil slicks were allowed to develop anaerobically. These organisms have been found in oil-contaminated sediments in the Gulf of Mexico, in deep marine oil reservoirs, and other oil-contaminated sites, suggesting they have putative hydrocarbon-degrading qualities. The occurrence and strong selection for Fusobacteria in a lab-based incubation of a sea surface oil slick sample collected during the spill suggests that these organisms may have become enriched in anaerobic zones of suspended particulates, such as MOS. Whilst the formation and rapid sinking of MOS is recognised as an important mechanism by which a proportion of the Macondo oil had been transported to the sea floor, its role in potentially transporting microorganisms, including oil-degraders, from the upper reaches of the water column to the seafloor should be considered. The presence of Fusobacteria on the sea surface—a highly oxygenated environment—is intriguing, and may be explained by the vertical upsurge of oil that provided a carrier to transport these organisms from anaerobic/micro-aerophilic zones in the oil plume or seabed to the upper reaches of the water column. We also propose that the formation of rapidly-sinking MOS may have re-transported these, and other microbial taxa, to the sediment in the Gulf of Mexico

Response of the bacterial community associated with a cosmopolitan marine diatom to crude oil shows a preference for the biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons

Emerging evidence shows that hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB) may be commonly found associated with phytoplankton in the ocean, but the ecology of these bacteria and how they respond to crude oil remains poorly understood. Here, we used a natural diatom-bacterial assemblage to investigate the diversity and response of HCB associated with a cosmopolitan marine diatom, S. costatum, to crude oil. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed a dramatic transition in the diatom-associated bacterial community, defined initially by a short-lived bloom of Methylophaga (putative oil-degraders) that was subsequently succeeded by a distinct groups of HCB (Marinobacter, Polycyclovorans, Arenibacter, Parvibaculum, Roseobacter clade), including putative novel phyla, as well as other groups with previously unqualified oil-degrading potential. Interestingly, these oil-enriched organisms contributed to the apparent and exclusive biodegradation of substituted and non-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), thereby suggesting that the HCB community associated with the diatom is tuned to specializing in the degradation of PAHs. Furthermore, the formation of marine oil snow (MOS) in oil-amended incubations was consistent with its formation during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This work highlights the phycosphere of phytoplankton as an underexplored biotope in the ocean where HCB may contribute importantly to the biodegradation of hydrocarbon contaminants in marine surface waters

Effect of suspension systems on the physiological and psychological responses to sub-maximal biking on simulated smooth and bumpy tracks

The aim of this study was to compare the physiological and psychological responses of cyclists riding on a hard tail bicycle and on a full suspension bicycle. Twenty males participated in two series of tests. A test rig held the front axle of the bicycle steady while the rear wheel rotated against a heavy roller with bumps (or no bumps) on its surface. In the first series of tests, eight participants (age 19 – 27 years, body mass 65 – 82 kg) were tested on both the full suspension and hard tail bicycles with and without bumps fitted to the roller. The second series of test repeated the bump tests with a further six participants (age 22 – 31 years, body mass 74 – 94 kg) and also involved an investigation of familiarization effects with the final six participants (age 21 – 30 years, body mass 64 – 80 kg). Heart rate, oxygen consumption (VO<sub>2</sub>), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and comfort were recorded during 10 min sub-maximal tests. Combined data for the bumps tests show that the full suspension bicycle was significantly different (P < 0.001) from the hard tail bicycle on all four measures. Oxygen consumption, heart rate and RPE were lower on average by 8.7 (s = 3.6) ml · kg<sup>-1</sup> · min<sup>-1</sup>, 32.1 (s = 12.1) beats · min<sup>-1</sup> and 2.6 (s = 2.0) units, respectively. Comfort scores were higher (better) on average by 1.9 (s = 0.8) units. For the no bumps tests, the only statistically significant difference (P = 0.008) was in VO<sub>2</sub>, which was lower for the hard tail bicycle by 2.2 (s = 1.7) ml · kg-1 · min<sup>-1</sup>. The results indicate that the full suspension bicycle provides a physiological and psychological advantage over the hard tail bicycle during simulated sub-maximal exercise on bumps

Response of the bacterial community associated with a cosmopolitan marine diatom to crude oil shows a preference for the biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbons: Alga-bacterial dynamics to crude oil exposure

Emerging evidence shows that hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (HCB) may be commonly found associated with phytoplankton in the ocean, but the ecology of these bacteria and how they respond to crude oil remains poorly understood. Here, we used a natural diatom-bacterial assemblage to investigate the diversity and response of HCB associated with a cosmopolitan marine diatom, S. costatum, to crude oil. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed a dramatic transition in the diatom-associated bacterial community, defined initially by a short-lived bloom of Methylophaga (putative oil-degraders) that was subsequently succeeded by a distinct groups of HCB (Marinobacter, Polycyclovorans, Arenibacter, Parvibaculum, Roseobacter clade), including putative novel phyla, as well as other groups with previously unqualified oil-degrading potential. Interestingly, these oil-enriched organisms contributed to the apparent and exclusive biodegradation of substituted and non-substituted polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), thereby suggesting that the HCB community associated with the diatom is tuned to specializing in the degradation of PAHs. Furthermore, the formation of marine oil snow (MOS) in oil-amended incubations was consistent with its formation during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This work highlights the phycosphere of phytoplankton as an underexplored biotope in the ocean where HCB may contribute importantly to the biodegradation of hydrocarbon contaminants in marine surface waters

Stability Assessment and Tuning of an Adaptively Augmented Classical Controller for Launch Vehicle Flight Control

Recently, a robust and practical adaptive control scheme for launch vehicles [ [1] has been introduced. It augments a classical controller with a real-time loop-gain adaptation, and it is therefore called Adaptive Augmentation Control (AAC). The loop-gain will be increased from the nominal design when the tracking error between the (filtered) output and the (filtered) command trajectory is large; whereas it will be decreased when excitation of flex or sloshing modes are detected. There is a need to determine the range and rate of the loop-gain adaptation in order to retain (exponential) stability, which is critical in vehicle operation, and to develop some theoretically based heuristic tuning methods for the adaptive law gain parameters. The classical launch vehicle flight controller design technics are based on gain-scheduling, whereby the launch vehicle dynamics model is linearized at selected operating points along the nominal tracking command trajectory, and Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) controller design techniques are employed to ensure asymptotic stability of the tracking error dynamics, typically by meeting some prescribed Gain Margin (GM) and Phase Margin (PM) specifications. The controller gains at the design points are then scheduled, tuned and sometimes interpolated to achieve good performance and stability robustness under external disturbances (e.g. winds) and structural perturbations (e.g. vehicle modeling errors). While the GM does give a bound for loop-gain variation without losing stability, it is for constant dispersions of the loop-gain because the GM is based on frequency-domain analysis, which is applicable only for LTI systems. The real-time adaptive loop-gain variation of the AAC effectively renders the closed-loop system a time-varying system, for which it is well-known that the LTI system stability criterion is neither necessary nor sufficient when applying to a Linear Time-Varying (LTV) system in a frozen-time fashion. Therefore, a generalized stability metric for time-varying loop=gain perturbations is needed for the AAC

Industrial strategy and the UK regions: Sectorally narrow and spatially blind

The UK government's new Industrial Strategy could have a significant impact on the country's regions and localities. However, this has received little attention to date. The analysis presented here examines the existing location of the sectors targeted by the first phase of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and the location of the R&D laboratories likely to be first in line for funding. In focusing on an extremely narrow range of sectors, the Fund is likely to have limited impact on the UK's persistent regional inequalities. The activities eligible for support account for relatively little of manufacturing or the rest of the economy and the basis of this targeting and its potential distributional consequences are spatially blind. As such, it runs the risk of widening regional divides in prosperity

Prevalence of filarioid nematodes and trypanosomes in American robins and house sparrows, Chicago USA

AbstractHosts are commonly infected with a suite of parasites, and interactions among these parasites can affect the size, structure, and behavior of host–parasite communities. As an important step to understanding the significance of co-circulating parasites, we describe prevalence of co-circulating hemoparasites in two important avian amplification hosts for West Nile virus (WNV), the American robin (Turdus migratorius) and house sparrow (Passer domesticus), during the 2010–2011 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Rates of nematode microfilariemia were 1.5% of the robins (n=70) and 4.2% of the house sparrows (n=72) collected during the day and 11.1% of the roosting robins (n=63) and 0% of the house sparrows (n=11) collected at night. Phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences of the 18S rRNA and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) genes from these parasites resolved two clades of filarioid nematodes. Microscopy revealed that 18.0% of American robins (n=133) and 16.9% of house sparrows (n=83) hosted trypanosomes in the blood. Phylogenetic analysis of nucleotide sequences from the 18s rRNA gene revealed that the trypanosomes fall within previously described avian trypanosome clades. These results document hemoparasites in the blood of WNV hosts in a center of endemic WNV transmission, suggesting a potential for direct or indirect interactions with the virus