Cenomanian Ostracoda from Southern England: their Taxonomy, Stratigraphy and Palaeoecology

Eight sections of Cenomanian Chalk from Southern England have been examined for their Ostracoda. A total of 111 species and 3 sub-species have been found and these fall into 47 genera. 38 of these species have been previously described, 47 are new and the r e s t have been left under open nomenclature. A generalised distribution chart for some of the more important species has been drawn up and the distribution of species in each individual section has been compared to this chart. As a result it can be seen that Ostracoda can be very useful in stratigraphic work in the Cenomanian. Their stratigraphy has been related to the macrofossil zonations and in particular to the Foraminiferal zonation. The Ostracoda indicate that normal marine salinities prevailed throughout the Cenomanian period in Southern England and that temperatures were probably in excess of 10°C. Distinct changes in the ostracod fauna during the Cenomanian may be due in part to an increasing temperature but some of the changes appear to be related to an increase in sea depth. The presence of numerous small specimens in the Middle and Upper Cenomanian may indicate very quiet conditions of deposition during which oxygen levels were reduced. The ostracod fauna from Southern England has more affinity to the fauna described from the eastern part of the Paris Basin and the southern Alpine region of France than with other areas in France

Sensory-Friendly Mode For Mobile Devices

A system and method are disclosed for a sensory-friendly mode in a mobile device. The system allows users to adjust the display, sound or haptic feedback output of the device to optimize the ability of users to consume the information provided by the device. The system may vary the amount of visual complexity for display based on the user needs, either by blurring the screen to eliminate hard edges, making the unimportant areas of the screen entirely invisible or by applying time-based filters to prevent animations or prevent screen flickering. The system may adjust audio volume automatically when a volume change is detected. The system may ramp up haptic vibrations slowly to avoid startling a sensitive user. The system is intended to make a device much more usable to users with special needs (e.g. autistic users)

Techniques for Disambiguation of Uncertain User Input

This disclosure describes techniques to perform disambiguation of uncertain or inaccurate user inputs to a computing device. Uncertain input can occur, for example, by an inadvertent touching of the touchscreen of a smartphone in a user’s pocket, inadvertent detection of gesture, etc. Current devices often interpret such input incorrectly, and respond in a manner that is unexpected for the user. Techniques disclosed herein determine a user intent based on the detected gesture. Machine learning is used to disambiguate user-intended input from inadvertent input. The framework described herein detects input and triggers an analyzer. The analyzer receives data from various sources, based on user permission to access such data. The data can include a state of the device, device configuration, user context, sensor data, history, etc. Results from the analyzer are provided to a resolver that determines the user intent and performs an appropriate action, e.g., triggering an application on the device

Vertex algebra of extended operators in 4d N=2 superconformal field theories

We construct a class of extended operators in the cohomology of a pair of twisted Schur supercharges of 4d N=2 SCFTs. The extended operators are constructed from the local operators in this cohomology -- the Schur operators -- by a version of topological descent; in particular, they are world volume integrals of certain super descendants of Schur operators. Their world volumes extend in directions transverse to a spatial plane in Minkowski space-time and their correlators are meromorphic functions only of the positions where they intersect this plane. These operators enlarge the vertex operator algebra of the Schur operators. We illustrate this enlarged vertex algebra by computing some extended-operator product expansions for the free hypermultiplet SCFT.Comment: 28 pages, 2 figure

Unrelieved Pain and Distress in Animals: An Analysis of USDA Data on Experimental Procedures

Pain and distress are core issues in the field of animal experimentation and in the controversy that surrounds it. We sought to add to the empirical base of the literature on pain and distress by examining government data on experimental procedures that caused unrelieved pain and distress (UPAD) in animals. Of the species regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), most of the approximately 100,000 animals subjected to UP AD during the year analyzed (1992) were guinea pigs and hamsters. Most of these animals were used in industry laboratories for various testing procedures, primarily vaccine potency testing. We discuss the limitations of the USDA data and recommend changes to the current reporting system. By identifying experimental procedures that cause UPAD in large numbers of USDA-regulated animals, the present analysis can be viewed as a means of identifying priorities for research and development of alternatives methods (replacements, reductions, and refinements)

Hypoxic modulation of exogenous nitrite-induced vasodilation in humans

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

An exploratory investigation of proximity control in a large-group unstructured setting

Proximity control is a common component of many classroom management strategies and has been shown to reduce disruptive behavior as well as increase academic engagement among students. Much of the research on proximity control to date has been conducted in structured classroom settings or in combination with other behavioral management techniques. This applied study investigated the effect of proximity control on student behavior in a large, unstructured setting using an ABAB withdrawal design. Results indicate that staff proximity was effective at reducing inappropriate student behavior. The study also explored the acceptability of the treatment among staff participants. Staff reported lower levels of acceptability for the implementation of proximity control compared to pretreatment methods of monitoring. A discussion of these findings and implications is included

Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice in Early Childhood

Young children often present with challenging behaviors such as tantrums, aggression, and noncompliance. Rates of expulsion for behavior concerns in early childhood are alarming and can have long-term negative implications for children and their families (Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, 2022). Implementation of a systematic multi-tiered system of supports framework can improve behavioral outcomes of young children. To effectively meet child and family needs within these frameworks, it is integral for members of the team to collaborate. Interdisciplinary teams within early childhood might include families, teachers, school psychologists, behavior analysts, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists and other related mental health and medical providers. The Interprofessional Education Collaborative outlined competencies for interdisciplinary collaborative practice that are organized within four domains: values and ethics, roles/responsibilities, interdisciplinary communication, and teams/teamwork. To facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration (IC) in practice, it is important to provide opportunities for collaboration across disciplines within coursework and field experiences. In this paper, we provide an example of an interdisciplinary training program to support behavioral and mental health needs of children. The training includes graduate students in applied behavior analysis, school psychology, and special education. Scholars participating in the program complete coursework for their specific programs in addition to joint coursework, seminars, and practicum activities in school settings. Throughout the program, scholars gain knowledge and skills in eight competencies identified for the program. Based on the literature and our training experience, we also outline insights and actions for training at the university-level and practitioner-level to implement interdisciplinary teaming

A Structural Basis for Cellular Uptake of GST-Fold Proteins

It has recently emerged that glutathione transferase enzymes (GSTs) and other structurally related molecules can be translocated from the external medium into many different cell types. In this study we aim to explore in detail, the structural features that govern cell translocation and by dissecting the human GST enzyme GSTM2-2 we quantatively demonstrate that the α-helical C-terminal domain (GST-C) is responsible for this property. Attempts to further examine the constituent helices within GST-C resulted in a reduction in cell translocation efficiency, indicating that the intrinsic GST-C domain structure is necessary for maximal cell translocation capacity. In particular, it was noted that the α-6 helix of GST-C plays a stabilising role in the fold of this domain. By destabilising the conformation of GST-C, an increase in cell translocation efficiency of up to ∼2-fold was observed. The structural stability profiles of these protein constructs have been investigated by circular dichroism and differential scanning fluorimetry measurements and found to impact upon their cell translocation efficiency. These experiments suggest that the globular, helical domain in the 'GST-fold' structural motif plays a role in influencing cellular uptake, and that changes that affect the conformational stability of GST-C can significantly influence cell translocation efficiency.This work was supported by Grant DP0558315 Australian Research Council (http://www.arc.gov.au/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript