Glass-to-metal bonding process improves stability and performance of semiconductor devices

Anodic bonding of glass coverslips to photodiodes and photovoltaic devices eliminates the need for adhesive. The process requires relatively low temperatures /less than 560 degrees C/ and the metals and glass remain solid throughout the bonding process

Fabrication of electroacoustic RF amplifiers

Anodic bonding of a lithium niobate piezoelectric crystal over a silicon-on-sapphire structure with the crystal mounted over a closely controlled oxide provides a point-contact mount for two rectangular slabs /one piezoelectric and the other a silicon semiconductor/ within 600 A of each other

Biomedical sensing and display concept improves brain wave monitoring

Concept for increasing effectiveness of biomedical sensing and display promises greater monitoring capability while lessening high skill requirements in operating personnel. New concept overcomes deficiencies of current system by employing increased number of probes and microelectronic preamplifiers

Post-operative cranial pressure monitoring system

System for monitoring of fluidic pressures in cranial cavity uses a miniaturized pressure sensing transducer, combined with suitable amplification means, a meter with scale calibrated in terms of pressures between minus 100 and plus 900 millimeters of water, and a miniaturized chart recorder covering similar range of pressures

Germination responses of a dry sclerophyll forest soil-stored seedbank to fire related cues

Fire is an integral component of many ecosystems worldwide. Many plant species require fire-related cues, primarily heat and smoke, to trigger germination. Despite the importance of this process, the responses of many Australian species to these cues are unknown. Without this knowledge fire management strategies may be developed that are inappropriate for individual species and vegetation communities. In this study we examined the responses of a dry sclerophyll forest seed bank to heat and smoke germination cues. Analysis was possible for 48 taxa within the soil seedbank with 34 of these showing a response to one or both of the germination cues. 10 species responded to the heat treatment, 11 species responded to the smoke treatment and 13 species responded to both the heat and smoke treatments. Germination cues acted independently for all species considered. Results in this study were consistent with published reports for most species, although some differences were seen at the species and genus level. The study highlights the importance of fire-related cues in enhancing germination of a large proportion of the species occurring in dry sclerophyll forests

Characteristics of Wetting-Induced Bacteriophage Blooms in Biological Soil Crust.

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are photosynthetic "hot spots" in deserts and cover ∼12% of the Earth's terrestrial surface, and yet they face an uncertain future given expected shifts in rainfall events. Laboratory wetting of biocrust communities is known to cause a bloom of Firmicutes which rapidly become dominant community members within 2 days after emerging from a sporulated state. We hypothesized that their bacteriophages (phages) would respond to such a dramatic increase in their host's abundance. In our experiment, wetting caused Firmicutes to bloom and triggered a significant depletion of cyanobacterial diversity. We used genome-resolved metagenomics to link phage to their hosts and found that the bloom of the genus Bacillus correlated with a dramatic increase in the number of Caudovirales phages targeting these diverse spore-formers (r = 0.762). After 2 days, we observed dramatic reductions in the relative abundances of Bacillus, while the number of Bacillus phages continued to increase, suggestive of a predator-prey relationship. We found predicted auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) associated with sporulation in several Caudovirales genomes, suggesting that phages may influence and even benefit from sporulation dynamics in biocrusts. Prophage elements and CRISPR-Cas repeats in Firmicutes metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) provide evidence of recent infection events by phages, which were corroborated by mapping viral contigs to their host MAGs. Combined, these findings suggest that the blooming Firmicutes become primary targets for biocrust Caudovirales phages, consistent with the classical "kill-the-winner" hypothesis.IMPORTANCE This work forms part of an overarching research theme studying the effects of a changing climate on biological soil crust (biocrust) in the Southwestern United States. To our knowledge, this study was the first to characterize bacteriophages in biocrust and offers a view into the ecology of phages in response to a laboratory wetting experiment. The phages identified here represent lineages of Caudovirales, and we found that the dynamics of their interactions with their Firmicutes hosts explain the collapse of a bacterial bloom that was induced by wetting. Moreover, we show that phages carried host-altering metabolic genes and found evidence of proviral infection and CRISPR-Cas repeats within host genomes. Our results suggest that phages exert controls on population density by lysing dominant bacterial hosts and that they further impact biocrust by acquiring host genes for sporulation. Future research should explore how dominant these phages are in other biocrust communities and quantify how much the control and lysis of blooming populations contributes to nutrient cycling in biocrusts

Orbital Parameter Determination for Wide Stellar Binary Systems in the Age of Gaia

The orbits of binary stars and planets, particularly eccentricities and inclinations, encode the angular momentum within these systems. Within stellar multiple systems, the magnitude and (mis)alignment of angular momentum vectors among stars, disks, and planets probes the complex dynamical processes guiding their formation and evolution. The accuracy of the \textit{Gaia} catalog can be exploited to enable comparison of binary orbits with known planet or disk inclinations without costly long-term astrometric campaigns. We show that \textit{Gaia} astrometry can place meaningful limits on orbital elements in cases with reliable astrometry, and discuss metrics for assessing the reliability of \textit{Gaia} DR2 solutions for orbit fitting. We demonstrate our method by determining orbital elements for three systems (DS Tuc AB, GK/GI Tau, and Kepler-25/KOI-1803) using \textit{Gaia} astrometry alone. We show that DS Tuc AB's orbit is nearly aligned with the orbit of DS Tuc Ab, GK/GI Tau's orbit might be misaligned with their respective protoplanetary disks, and the Kepler-25/KOI-1803 orbit is not aligned with either component's transiting planetary system. We also demonstrate cases where \textit{Gaia} astrometry alone fails to provide useful constraints on orbital elements. To enable broader application of this technique, we introduce the python tool \texttt{lofti\_gaiaDR2} to allow users to easily determine orbital element posteriors.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Life History Parameters of Gulf Flounder (Paralichthys albigutta) From Northwest Florida

Age, growth, natural and total mortality, a length-weight relationship, reproductive seasonality, sex ratio, maturity, and reproductive potential by size were estimated for gulf flounder, Paralichthys albigutta, from northwest Florida. The study used a fishery-independent approach during three annual migratory spawning seasons to sample gulf flounder offshore (spearing by divers) and inshore (multipanel trammel nets). We found gulf flounder to be slightly smaller at L∞ than other paralichthids (using either von Bertalanffy or damped growth functions), but gulf flounder obtained larger sizes and older ages than previously thought for this species [females to 575 mm total length (TL) and age 7, males to 373 mm TL and age 11], probably due to offshore sampling targeting more of the adult component of the stock. Given the older age structure than previously noted for this species, gulf flounder maturity and mortality estimates were similar to values reported for other U.S. paralichthids. Gulf flounder exhibited fall-winter gonad development with all evidence pointing to spawning occurring offshore. We estimated batch fecundity and spawning frequency, but it was apparent that there was a seasonal effect for both of these parameters, with increased oocyte density and nearly daily spawning occurring by late October to November, the peak period of development, also reflected in the gonadosomatic index

Dimensional Accuracy in X-Ray Computed Tomography Imaging

X-ray computed tomography (CT) has become an important non-destructive evaluation technique. CT contributes to a wide range of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications [1]. These include typical NDE applications (e.g., defect detection and quality control), more advanced NDE applications (e.g., process development and model verification), and the more recent application of CT-based metrology (e.g., geometric inspection and reverse engineering). In the traditional applications of CT, the user is concerned with defect sensitivity, which is a combination of spatial resolution, contrast sensitivity and slice thickness [2]. For CT-based metrology, the term “defect sensitivity” has little meaning; dimensional accuracy of the system becomes paramount

Impacts of Maize Domestication and Breeding on Rhizosphere Microbial Community Recruitment from a Nutrient Depleted Agricultural Soil.

Maize domestication and breeding have resulted in drastic and well documented changes in aboveground traits, but belowground effects on root system functioning and rhizosphere microbial communities remain poorly understood, despite their critical importance for nutrient and water acquisition. We investigated the rhizosphere microbial community composition and structure of ten Zea mays accessions along an evolutionary transect (two teosinte, three inbred maize lines, and five modern maize hybrids) grown in nutrient depleted soil from a low input agricultural system. Microbial community analysis revealed significant differences in community composition between soil compartments (proximal vs. distal rhizosphere) and between plant genetic groups (teosinte, inbred, and modern hybrid). Only a small portion of the microbial community was differentially selected across plant genetic groups: 3.7% of prokaryotic community members and 4.9% of fungal community members were significantly associated with a specific plant genetic group. Indicator species analysis showed the greatest differentiation between modern hybrids and the other two plant genetic groups. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed that microbial co-occurrence patterns of the inbred maize lines' rhizosphere were significantly more similar to those of the teosintes than to the modern hybrids. Our results suggest that advances in hybrid development significantly impacted rhizosphere microbial communities and network assembly