EMI protection design guidance

This EMI Protection Design Guidelines report has been prepared as a guide for use by ALSEP experiment fabrication and subsystem designers.prepared by J. Whiteford, R. L. Lewis

Musicians do not benefit from differences in fundamental frequency when listening to speech in competing speech backgrounds

Abstract Recent studies disagree on whether musicians have an advantage over non-musicians in understanding speech in noise. However, it has been suggested that musicians may be able to use differences in fundamental frequency (F0) to better understand target speech in the presence of interfering talkers. Here we studied a relatively large (N = 60) cohort of young adults, equally divided between non-musicians and highly trained musicians, to test whether the musicians were better able to understand speech either in noise or in a two-talker competing speech masker. The target speech and competing speech were presented with either their natural F0 contours or on a monotone F0, and the F0 difference between the target and masker was systematically varied. As expected, speech intelligibility improved with increasing F0 difference between the target and the two-talker masker for both natural and monotone speech. However, no significant intelligibility advantage was observed for musicians over non-musicians in any condition. Although F0 discrimination was significantly better for musicians than for non-musicians, it was not correlated with speech scores. Overall, the results do not support the hypothesis that musical training leads to improved speech intelligibility in complex speech or noise backgrounds

Sexual dimorphisms in leukocyte trafficking in a mouse peritonitis model

E.K was funded by the British Heart Foundation Grant # FS113028789 and JRW was funded by Arthritis Research-UK Grant #19207

Updated Atomic Data and Calculations for X-ray Spectroscopy

We describe the latest release of AtomDB, version 2.0.2, a database of atomic data and a plasma modeling code with a focus on X-ray astronomy. This release includes several major updates to the fundamental atomic structure and process data held within AtomDB, incorporating new ionization balance data, state-selective recombination data, and updated collisional excitation data for many ions, including the iron L-shell ions from Fe$^{+16}$ to Fe$^{+23}$ and all of the hydrogen- and helium-like sequences. We also describe some of the effects that these changes have on calculated emission and diagnostic line ratios, such as changes in the temperature implied by the He-like G-ratios of up to a factor of 2.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 12 pages, 9 figure

Reconstruction of Cenozoic δ11Bsw using a Gaussian process

Funding: European Research Council - 805246.The boron isotope ratio of seawater (δ11Bsw) is a parameter which must be known to reconstruct palaeo pH and CO2 from boron isotope measurements of marine carbonates. Beyond a few million years ago, δ11Bsw is likely to have been different to modern. Palaeo δ11Bsw can be estimated by simultaneously constraining the vertical gradients in foraminiferal δ11B (Δδ11B) and pH (ΔpH). A number of subtly different techniques have been used to estimate ΔpH in the past, all broadly based on assumptions about vertical gradients in oxygen, and/or carbon, or other carbonate system constraints. In this work we pull together existing data from previous studies, alongside a constraint on the rate of change of δ11Bsw from modeling. We combine this information in an overarching statistical framework called a Gaussian Process. The Gaussian Process technique allows us to bring together data and constraints on the rate of change in δ11Bsw to generate random plausible evolutions of δ11Bsw. We reconstruct δ11Bsw, and by extension palaeo pH, across the last 65Myr using this novel methodology. Reconstructed δ11Bsw is compared to other seawater isotope ratios, namely , , and δ7Li, which we also reconstruct with Gaussian Processes. Our method provides a template for incorporation of future δ11Bsw constraints, and a mechanism for propagation of uncertainty in δ11Bsw into future studies.Peer reviewe

Recombination Rate Coefficients for KLL Di-electronic Satellite Lines of Fe XXV and Ni XXVII

The unified method for total electron-ion recombination is extended to study the dielectronic satellite (DES) lines. These lines, formed from radiative decay of autoionizing states, are highly sensitive temperature diagnostics of astrophysical and laboratory plasma sources. The computation of the unified recombination rates is based on the relativistic Breit-Pauli R-matrix method and close coupling approximation. Extending the theoretical formulation developed earlier we present recombination rate coefficients for the 22 satellite lines of KLL complexes of helium-like Fe XXV and Ni XXVII. The isolated resonance approximation, commonly used throughout plasma modeling, treats these resonances essentially as bound features except for dielectronic capture into, and autoionization out of, these levels. A line profile or cross section shape is often assumed. On the other hand, by including the coupling between the autoionizing and continuum channels, the unified method gives the intrinsic spectrum of DES lines which includes not only the energies and strengths, but also the natural line or cross section shapes. A formulation is presented to derive autoionization rates from unified resonance strengths and enable correspondence with the isolated resonance approximation. While the rates compare very well with existing rates for the strong lines to <20%, the differences for weaker DES lines are larger. We also illustrate the application of the present results to the analysis of K ALPHA complexes observed in high-temperature X-ray emission spectra of Fe XXV and Ni XXVII. There are considerable differences with previous results in the total KLL intensity for Fe XXV at temperatures below the temperature of maximum abundance in coronal equilibrium. (Abbreviated Abstract)Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physica Script

The white-rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, under combinatorial stress produces variable oil profiles following analysis of secondary metabolites

Aims: The effects of combinatorial stress on lipid production in Phanerochaete chrysosporium remains understudied. This species of white‐rot fungi was cultivated on solid‐state media whilst under variable levels of known abiotic and biotic stressors to establish the effect upon fungal oil profiles. Methods and Results: Environmental stressors induced upon the fungus included: temperature; nutrient limitation; and interspecies competition to assess impact upon oil profiles. Fatty acid type and concentration was determined using analytical methods of Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. Growth rate under stress was established using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with ergosterol as the biomarker. Fungi grown on solid‐state agar were able to simultaneously produce short and long‐chain fatty acids which appeared to be influenced by nutritional composition as well as temperature. Addition of nitrogen supplements increased the growth rate, but lipid dynamics remained unchanged. Introducing competition‐induced stress had significantly altered the production of certain fatty acids beyond that of the monoculture whilst under nutrient‐limiting conditions. Linoleic acid concentrations, for example, increased from an average of 885 ng/μl at monoculture towards 13820 ng/μl at co‐culture, following 7 days of incubation. Conclusions: Interspecies competition produced the most notable impact on lipid production for solid‐state media cultivated fungi whilst the addition of nitrogen supplementation presented growth and lipid accumulation to be uncorrelated. Combinatorial stress therefore influences the yield of overall lipid production as well as the number of intermediate fatty acids produced, deriving similar oil profiles to the composition of vegetable and fish oils. Significance and Impact of Study: Fungal secondary metabolism remains highly sensitive following combinatorial stress. The outcome impacts the research towards optimising fungal oil profiles for biomass and nutrition. Future investigations on fungal stress tolerance mechanisms need to address these environmental factors throughout the experimental design

Pathological Angiogenesis Requires Syndecan-4 for Efficient VEGFA-Induced VE-Cadherin Internalization

Objective: VEGFA (Vascular endothelial growth factor A) and its receptor VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) drive angiogenesis in several pathologies, including diabetic retinopathy, wet age-related macular degeneration, and cancer. Studies suggest roles for HSPGs (heparan sulfate proteoglycans) in this process, although the nature of this involvement remains elusive. Here, we set to establish the role of the HSPG SDC4 (syndecan-4) in pathological angiogenesis. Approach and Results: We report that angiogenesis is impaired in mice null for SDC4 in models of neovascular eye disease and tumor development. Our work demonstrates that SDC4 is the only SDC whose gene expression is upregulated during pathological angiogenesis and is selectively enriched on immature vessels in retinas from diabetic retinopathy patients. Combining in vivo and tissue culture models, we identified SDC4 as a downstream mediator of functional angiogenic responses to VEGFA. We found that SDC4 resides at endothelial cell junctions, interacts with vascular endothelial cadherin, and is required for its internalization in response to VEGFA. Finally, we show that pathological angiogenic responses are inhibited in a model of wet age-related macular degeneration by targeting SDC4. Conclusions: We show that SDC4 is a downstream mediator of VEGFA-induced vascular endothelial cadherin internalization during pathological angiogenesis and a potential target for antiangiogenic therapies

Pathological Angiogenesis Requires Syndecan-4 for Efficient VEGFA-Induced VE-Cadherin Internalization.

Objective: VEGFA (Vascular endothelial growth factor A) and its receptor VEGFR2 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2) drive angiogenesis in several pathologies, including diabetic retinopathy, wet age-related macular degeneration, and cancer. Studies suggest roles for HSPGs (heparan sulfate proteoglycans) in this process, although the nature of this involvement remains elusive. Here, we set to establish the role of the HSPG SDC4 (syndecan-4) in pathological angiogenesis. / Approach and Results: We report that angiogenesis is impaired in mice null for SDC4 in models of neovascular eye disease and tumor development. Our work demonstrates that SDC4 is the only SDC whose gene expression is upregulated during pathological angiogenesis and is selectively enriched on immature vessels in retinas from diabetic retinopathy patients. Combining in vivo and tissue culture models, we identified SDC4 as a downstream mediator of functional angiogenic responses to VEGFA. We found that SDC4 resides at endothelial cell junctions, interacts with vascular endothelial cadherin, and is required for its internalization in response to VEGFA. Finally, we show that pathological angiogenic responses are inhibited in a model of wet age-related macular degeneration by targeting SDC4. / Conclusions: We show that SDC4 is a downstream mediator of VEGFA-induced vascular endothelial cadherin internalization during pathological angiogenesis and a potential target for antiangiogenic therapies