The Making of a Hobbit: Tolkien’s Tantalizing Narrative Technique

Calls Tolkien’s fiction highly “audience-centered,” inviting divergent interpretations of everything from the appearance of hobbits to the landscape; through the technique of leaving room for imagination, Tolkien is “demanding that his readers participate with him in the creative process.

Multiple-Table Data in R with the multitable Package

Data frames are integral to R. They provide a standard format for passing data to model-fitting and plotting functions, and this standard makes it easier for experienced users to learn new functions that accept data as a single data frame. Still, many data sets do not easily fit into a single data frame; data sets in ecology with a so-called fourth- corner problem provide important examples. Manipulating such inherently multiple-table data using several data frames can result in long and difficult-to-read workflows. We introduce the R multitable package to provide new data storage objects called data.list objects, which extend the data.frame concept to explicitly multiple-table settings. Like data frames, data lists are lists of variables stored as vectors; what is new is that these vectors have dimension attributes that make accessing and manipulating them easier. As data.list objects can be coerced to data.frame objects, they can be used with all R functions that accept an object that is coercible to a data.frame

TPL-2 restricts Ccl24-dependent immunity to Heligmosomoides polygyrus

Funding: This work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001220), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001220), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001200). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Acknowledgments We are indebted to The Francis Crick Institute Flow Cytometry facility, and in particular Bhavik Patel, Graham Preece, Wayne Turnbull and Phil Hobson. We would also like to thank The Francis Crick Institute Procedural Service Section for production of GA lines and Biological Services, especially Trisha Norton, Keith Williams and Adebambo Adekoya for animal husbandry and technical support; to Riccardo Guidi for constructive discussions and technical assistance. We would like to thank Gitta Stockinger and AhR Immunity Laboratory for providing technical support and reagents throughout this study. We also thank Richard Rance and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute’s 454 pyrosequencing team for generating 16S rRNA gene data.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Simple Engineering Analysis of Solar Particle Event High Energy Tails and Their Impact on Vehicle Design

The mathematical models for Solar Particle Event (SPE) high energy tails are constructed with several di erent algorithms. Since limited measured data exist above energies around 400 MeV, this paper arbitrarily de nes the high energy tail as any proton with an energy above 400 MeV. In order to better understand the importance of accurately modeling the high energy tail for SPE spectra, the contribution to astronaut whole body e ective dose equivalent of the high energy portions of three di erent SPE models has been evaluated. To ensure completeness of this analysis, simple and complex geometries were used. This analysis showed that the high energy tail of certain SPEs can be relevant to astronaut exposure and hence safety. Therefore, models of high energy tails for SPEs should be well analyzed and based on data if possible

A Molecular Line Survey around Orion at Low Frequencies with the MWA

The low-frequency sky may reveal some of the secrets yet to be discovered. Until recently, molecules had never been detected within interstellar clouds at frequencies below 700 MHz. Following the pilot survey toward the Galactic center at 103-133 MHz with the Murchison Widefield Array, we surveyed 400 deg2centered on the Orion KL nebula from 99 to 170 MHz. Orion is a nearby region of active star formation and known to be a chemically rich environment. In this paper, we present tentative detections of nitric oxide and its isotopologues, singularly deuterated formic acid, molecular oxygen, and several unidentified transitions. The three identified molecules are particularly interesting, as laboratory experiments have suggested that these molecules are precursors to the formation of amines

A Rat Body Phantom for Radiation Analysis

To reduce the uncertainties associated with estimating the biological effects of ionizing radiation in tissue, researchers rely on laboratory experiments in which mono-energetic, single specie beams are applied to cell cultures, insects, and small animals. To estimate the radiation effects on astronauts in deep space or low Earth orbit, who are exposed to mixed field broad spectrum radiation, these experimental results are extrapolated and combined with other data to produce radiation quality factors, radiation weighting factors, and other risk related quantities for humans. One way to reduce the uncertainty associated with such extrapolations is to utilize analysis tools that are applicable to both laboratory and space environments. The use of physical and computational body phantoms to predict radiation exposure and its effects is well established and a wide range of human and non-human phantoms are in use today. In this paper, a computational rat phantom is presented, as well as a description of the process through which that phantom has been coupled to existing radiation analysis tools. Sample results are presented for two space radiation environments

Investigating Material Approximations in Spacecraft Radiation Analysis

During the design process, the configuration of space vehicles and habitats changes frequently and the merits of design changes must be evaluated. Methods for rapidly assessing astronaut exposure are therefore required. Typically, approximations are made to simplify the geometry and speed up the evaluation of each design. In this work, the error associated with two common approximations used to simplify space radiation vehicle analyses, scaling into equivalent materials and material reordering, are investigated. Over thirty materials commonly found in spacesuits, vehicles, and human bodies are considered. Each material is placed in a material group (aluminum, polyethylene, or tissue), and the error associated with scaling and reordering was quantified for each material. Of the scaling methods investigated, range scaling is shown to be the superior method, especially for shields less than 30 g/cm2 exposed to a solar particle event. More complicated, realistic slabs are examined to quantify the separate and combined effects of using equivalent materials and reordering. The error associated with material reordering is shown to be at least comparable to, if not greater than, the error associated with range scaling. In general, scaling and reordering errors were found to grow with the difference between the average nuclear charge of the actual material and average nuclear charge of the equivalent material. Based on this result, a different set of equivalent materials (titanium, aluminum, and tissue) are substituted for the commonly used aluminum, polyethylene, and tissue. The realistic cases are scaled and reordered using the new equivalent materials, and the reduced error is shown

A Reference Field for GCR Simulation and an LET-Based Implementation at NSRL

Exposure to galactic cosmic rays (GCR) on long duration deep space missions presents a serious health risk to astronauts, with large uncertainties connected to the biological response. In order to reduce the uncertainties and gain understanding about the basic mechanisms through which space radiation initiates cancer and other endpoints, radiobiology experiments are performed. Some of the accelerator facilities supporting such experiments have matured to a point where simulating the broad range of particles and energies characteristic of the GCR environment in a single experiment is feasible from a technology, usage, and cost perspective. In this work, several aspects of simulating the GCR environment in the laboratory are discussed. First, comparisons are made between direct simulation of the external, free space GCR field and simulation of the induced tissue field behind shielding. It is found that upper energy constraints at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) limit the ability to simulate the external, free space field directly (i.e. shielding placed in the beam line in front of a biological target and exposed to a free space spectrum). Second, variation in the induced tissue field associated with shielding configuration and solar activity is addressed. It is found that the observed variation is within physical uncertainties, allowing a single reference field for deep space missions to be defined. Third, an approach for simulating the reference field at NSRL is presented. The approach allows for the linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum of the reference field to be approximately represented with discrete ion and energy beams and implicitly maintains a reasonably accurate charge spectrum (or, average quality factor). Drawbacks of the proposed methodology are discussed and weighed against alternative simulation strategies. The neutron component and track structure characteristics of the proposed strategy are discussed in this context

Occurrence and diversity of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris in vegetable brassica fields in Nepal

Black rot caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris was found in 28 sampled cabbage fields in five major cabbage-growing districts in Nepal in 2001 and in four cauliflower fields in two districts and a leaf mustard seed bed in 2003. Pathogenic X. campestris pv. campestris strains were obtained from 39 cabbage plants, 4 cauliflower plants, and 1 leaf mustard plant with typical lesions. Repetitive DNA polymerase chain reaction-based fingerprinting (rep-PCR) using repetitive extragenic palindromic, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus, and BOX primers was used to assess the genetic diversity. Strains were also race typed using a differential series of Brassica spp. Cabbage strains belonged to five races (races 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7), with races 4, 1, and 6 the most common. All cauliflower strains were race 4 and the leaf mustard strain was race 6. A dendrogram derived from the combined rep-PCR profiles showed that the Nepalese X. campestris pv. campestris strains clustered separately from other Xanthomonas spp. and pathovars. Race 1 strains clustered together and strains of races 4, 5, and 6 were each split into at least two clusters. The presence of different races and the genetic variability of the pathogen should be considered when resistant cultivars are bred and introduced into regions in Nepal to control black rot of brassicas

Crisis Leadership During the Great Recession of 2008

Understanding leadership characteristics, frameworks, components, and contexts that are beneficial to the guidance of organizational policy is useful for understanding the way in which leaders should act during a crisis. Recessions are common throughout economies; yet, many see recessions as crises. Due to the chaotic nature of economic recessions, leaders must work in conditions of uncertainty, complexity, and volatility. Therefore, using a qualitative phenomenological approach, an examination was conducted on leaders’ lived experiences of the Great Recession of 2008 to further understand the concept of crisis leadership. A discussion is included on the way in which leaders internalize and analyze the crisis and the characteristics and behaviors needed to sustain through the crisis. This research was conducted in 2013