Prearchaic Adaptations in the Central Great Basin: Preliminary findings from a stratified open-air site in Grass Valley, Nevada

posterEarly Holocene occupants of the Great Basin preferentially occupied highly productive habitats surrounding pluvial lakes. While growing evidence details in the adaptations of these Prearchaic foragers in the Eastern (e.g., Madsen et al. 2015) and Western Great Basin (e.g., Jenkins et al. 2012), our understanding of the Central Great Basin remains impoverished, largely due to the limited number of stratified archaeological sites containing well preserved material suitable for faunal analysis and radiocarbon dating

An Extraordinary Scattered Broad Emission Line in a Type 2 QSO

An infrared-selected, narrow-line QSO has been found to exhibit an extraordinarily broad Halpha emission line in polarized light. Both the extreme width (35,000 km/sec full-width at zero intensity) and 3,000 km/sec redshift of the line centroid with respect to the systemic velocity suggest emission in a deep gravitational potential. An extremely red polarized continuum and partial scattering of the narrow lines at a position angle common to the broad-line emission imply extensive obscuration, with few unimpeded lines of sight to the nucleus.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letter

Multi-mode coupling wave theory for helically corrugated waveguide

Helically corrugated waveguide has been used in various applications such as gyro-backward wave oscillators, gyro-traveling wave amplifier and microwave pulse compressor. A fast prediction of the dispersion characteristic of the operating eigenwave is very important when designing a helically corrugated waveguide. In this paper, multi-mode coupling wave equations were developed based on the perturbation method. This method was then used to analyze a five-fold helically corrugated waveguide used for X-band microwave compression. The calculated result from this analysis was found to be in excellent agreement with the results from numerical simulation using CST Microwave Studio and vector network analyzer measurements

Development of a technology adoption and usage prediction tool for assistive technology for people with dementia

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ The Authors 2013.In the current work, data gleaned from an assistive technology (reminding technology), which has been evaluated with people with Dementia over a period of several years was retrospectively studied to extract the factors that contributed to successful adoption. The aim was to develop a prediction model with the capability of prospectively assessing whether the assistive technology would be suitable for persons with Dementia (and their carer), based on user characteristics, needs and perceptions. Such a prediction tool has the ability to empower a formal carer to assess, through a very limited amount of questions, whether the technology will be adopted and used.EPSR

Statin-induced increases in atrophy gene expression occur independently of changes in PGC1α protein and mitochondrial content

One serious side effect of statin drugs is skeletal muscle myopathy. Although the mechanism(s) responsible for statin myopathy remains to be fully determined, an increase in muscle atrophy gene expression and changes in mitochondrial content and/or function have been proposed to play a role. In this study, we examined the relationship between statin-induced expression of muscle atrophy genes, regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis, and markers of mitochondrial content in slow- (ST) and fast-twitch (FT) rat skeletal muscles. Male Sprague Dawley rats were treated with simvastatin (60 or 80 mg·kg(-1)·day(-1)) or vehicle control via oral gavage for 14 days. In the absence of overt muscle damage, simvastatin treatment induced an increase in atrogin-1, MuRF1 and myostatin mRNA expression; however, these were not associated with changes in peroxisome proliferator gamma co-activator 1 alpha (PGC-1α) protein or markers of mitochondrial content. Simvastatin did, however, increase neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), endothelial NOS (eNOS) and AMPK α-subunit protein expression, and tended to increase total NOS activity, in FT but not ST muscles. Furthermore, simvastatin induced a decrease in β-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase (β-HAD) activity only in FT muscles. These findings suggest that the statin-induced activation of muscle atrophy genes occurs independent of changes in PGC-1α protein and mitochondrial content. Moreover, muscle-specific increases in NOS expression and possibly NO production, and decreases in fatty acid oxidation, could contribute to the previously reported development of overt statin-induced muscle damage in FT muscles

Rhizobacterial influence on healthy stand establishment of canola grown in Rhizoctonia solani infested fields of Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedPre-emergence seedling damping-off, seedling blight, and brown girdling root rot caused by R. solani are important diseases of canola/rape seed in western Canada. Annual yield losses in excess of 20-30% have been reported in several infected fields. Cultural control methods or resistant cultivars are currently unavailable for these diseases. Chemical fungicides have been developed for use to control the disease, but the success rate has been varied. However, the use of chemicals is becoming less acceptable from an environmental point of view. Several studies indicated that biological control using plant growth promoting rhizobacteria may also be effective in controlling R. solani. Field plots were established in Saskatoon, Regina and Melfort, SK, in 1990, 1991 and 1992 to evaluate the potential of rhizobacterial strains as seed treatments to increase the healthy stand of canola CV. Westar grown in R. solani infested field. The bacteria were formulated either in sterile peat or in a liquid carrier and applied to seed just before planting. Bacterized seed were mechanically planted in replicated field plots artificially infested with R. solani. Final healthy stand was measured 30 days after planting. Grain yields were determined by harvesting the plots. Seed bacterization significantly increased the final healthy stand compared to non-bacterized controls. Strains which increased stand showed in vitro antagonistic activity to not only R. solani but also other pathogens such as Pythium ultimum, Fusarium solani and F. oxysporum. Some of these strains induced root elongation of canola under laboratory conditions. Rhizosphere colonization, chemical compatibility and shelf-life of the important bacteria will be discussed

Galaxy Cluster Pressure Profiles as Determined by Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect Observations with MUSTANG and Bolocam I: Joint Analysis Technique

We present a technique to constrain galaxy cluster pressure profiles by jointly fitting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) data obtained with MUSTANG and Bolocam for the clusters Abell 1835 and MACS0647. Bolocam and MUSTANG probe different angular scales and are thus highly complementary. We find that the addition of the high resolution MUSTANG data can improve constraints on pressure profile parameters relative to those derived solely from Bolocam. In Abell 1835 and MACS0647, we find gNFW inner slopes of $\gamma = 0.36_{-0.21}^{+0.33}$ and $\gamma = 0.38_{-0.25}^{+0.20}$, respectively when $\alpha$ and $\beta$ are constrained to 0.86 and 4.67 respectively. The fitted SZE pressure profiles are in good agreement with X-ray derived pressure profiles.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Ap

Transient absorption and reshaping of ultrafast XUV light by laser-dressed helium

We present a theoretical study of transient absorption and reshaping of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) pulses by helium atoms dressed with a moderately strong infrared (IR) laser field. We formulate the atomic response using both the frequency-dependent absorption cross section and a time-frequency approach based on the time-dependent dipole induced by the light fields. The latter approach can be used in cases when an ultrafast dressing pulse induces transient effects, and/or when the atom exchanges energy with multiple frequency components of the XUV field. We first characterize the dressed atom response by calculating the frequency-dependent absorption cross section for XUV energies between 20 and 24 eV for several dressing wavelengths between 400 and 2000 nm and intensities up to 10^12 W/cm^2. We find that for dressing wavelengths near 1600 nm, there is an Autler-Townes splitting of the 1s ---> 2p transition that can potentially lead to transparency for absorption of XUV light tuned to this transition. We study the effect of this XUV transparency in a macroscopic helium gas by incorporating the time-frequency approach into a solution of the coupled Maxwell-Schr\"odinger equations. We find rich temporal reshaping dynamics when a 61 fs XUV pulse resonant with the 1s ---> 2p transition propagates through a helium gas dressed by an 11 fs, 1600 nm laser pulse.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, RevTeX4, revise

Superconducting Properties of MgCNi3 Films

We report the magnetotransport properties of thin polycrystalline films of the recently discovered non-oxide perovskite superconductor MgCNi3. CNi3 precursor films were deposited onto sapphire substrates and subsequently exposed to Mg vapor at 700 C. We report transition temperatures (Tc) and critical field values (Hc2) of MgCNi3 films ranging in thickness from 7.5 nm to 100 nm. Films thicker than ~40 nm have a Tc ~ 8 K, and an upper critical field Hc2 ~ 14 T, which are both comparable to that of polycrystalline powders. Hall measurements in the normal state give a carrier density, n =-4.2 x 10^22 cm^-3, that is approximately 4 times that reported for bulk samples.Comment: submitted to PR