Ignorance is Bliss: The Impacts of International Travel and Education on Political Beliefs

This ISP examines the link between international travel and selected political beliefs. While the literature on the political effects of international travel are almost non-existent, many works exist that link increased education to higher political skepticism. In this study, we test the theory that international travel can be interpreted as education, and thus can have the same effect of engendering political skepticism. This theory is tested using a survey which was distributed at various locations in Amman, Jordan. The survey first asked about the respondent’s basic demographical information, education level and international travel history. The political questions focused on two main themes: peace and intervention. The respondent was asked to rate their optimism for peace in various Middle Eastern conflicts and their beliefs on the ability for American or Russian military intervention to bring peace to the same Middle Eastern conflicts. One hundred surveys were collected and analyzed. It was found that international travel had no effect on optimism for peace in Syria, Iraq, Libya or Yemen. However, the results showed a strong trend in other areas. Those who had traveled internationally, compared to those who had never left Jordan, were significantly more pessimistic about peace in the Arab/Israeli conflict, and were significantly more skeptical about the ability for American military intervention to bring peace to Syria, Iraq, Libya or Yemen. Additionally, those who had traveled internationally were significantly more skeptical about Russian involvement in Syria. The most significant aspect of analysis showed that traveling to more countries resulted in more skepticism. The results for optimism for peace in Syria, Iraq, Libya or Yemen are muddled because current events change those situations constantly. However, views on the Arab/Israeli peace and foreign military intervention in the region are long-held, resulting in clear evidence that international travel generates political skepticism

Potential Mechanisms for NNS-Induced Metabolic Deviances: Satiety Hormone Secretion and Alterations in the Gut Microbiota

Rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes have prompted the usage and recommendation of nonnutritive sweeteners (NNS) as harmless sugar substitutes in attempts to decrease caloric intake. Contrary to the common belief that NNS remain physiologically inert post-consumption, evidence highlights their ability to alter metabolic processes via interactions in the gastrointestinal tract. An extensive review was conducted on the potential NNS-induced metabolic deviances by way of two non-mutually exclusive mechanisms. One possible mechanism involves their ability (or inability) to induce the secretion of GLP-1, a hormone produced in the gut that promotes satiety and accelerates glucose-dependent insulin secretion by interacting with sweet-taste receptors in the small intestine. Though NNS (sucralose, Ace K, and Rebaudioside A) show a high rate of GLP-1 secretion during in vitro studies, there are many discrepancies in results from human in vivo studies. A second mechanism proposes that NNS alter the composition of the gut microbiota, a vast community of microorganisms responsible for digesting food, releasing metabolites, and synthesizing vitamins. Differing forms of dysbiosis, alterations in bacterial composition, are observed, including an increased ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes and an increase in Lactobacilli spp. in exclusive studies, upon NNS exposure. Few experiments assessing NNS impact on the gut microbiota have been conducted with human subjects. Further investigations, specific to human subjects, should be explored in order to assess the true extent to which NNS impact incretin secretion and alterations in the gut microbiota

SYSTEM DESIGN AND INTEGRATION OF A RAPID RESPONSE PAYLOAD DELIVERY VEHICLE USING COMMERCIAL OFF-THE-SHELF COMPONENTS

This study involved the integration and implementation of multiple commercial off-the-shelf components into a rapid response payload delivery vehicle powered by a solid rocket motor. This work was motivated by the need to establish a proportional response to combat the presence of low-cost drone swarm technologies. Previous work was leveraged including flight data, system designs, and flight models to obtain the first objective of implementing a Raspberry Pi microprocessor, increasing the control loop response from 30 to 100Hz and improving the overall data acquisition attained from each flight. A proportional-derivative controller was then designed to successfully provide roll stabilization and heading during flight. Secondly, a nose-mounted camera system was implemented to serve as a lofted targeting hub to investigate the feasibility of tracking drone swarms and guiding submunitions. Multiple tests conclude that aerodynamic stabilization will be required to dampen the effects of the targeting hub oscillations during target acquisition. Lastly, this study allowed for the design, development, and evaluation of a mechanism for stable separation of rocket stages at high terminal velocities by incorporating a hybrid system of a mechanical release and carbon dioxide chamber pressurization.ONRLieutenant Commander, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Documenting the Process of Making a Sustainable Future Feel Like Home

As part of the U.S. Department of Energy 2015 Solar Decathlon, Team Orange County built a net-zero energy solar home called Casa del Sol. A unique collaboration between students of four local universities and colleges makes Team OC the most diverse team in the Solar Decathlon. The documentary showcases chronological events, which emphasize a spectrum of communication struggles and victories between the team members leading through the competition. In addition to the personal narrative of student leaders from each school, the film also examines four principles central to Casa Del Sol’s design; Passive Solar, Disruptive Innovation, Southern California Market, and Drought Resilience. Our mission is to continue educating the public about how to integrate alternative energy sources into a sustainable lifestyle of the future. Casa del Sol- Making a sustainable future feel like home

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping: Contrast Mechanisms and Clinical Applications.

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a recently developed MRI technique for quantifying the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibility within biological tissues. It first uses the frequency shift in the MRI signal to map the magnetic field profile within the tissue. The resulting field map is then used to determine the spatial distribution of the underlying magnetic susceptibility by solving an inverse problem. The solution is achieved by deconvolving the field map with a dipole field, under the assumption that the magnetic field is a result of the superposition of the dipole fields generated by all voxels and that each voxel has its unique magnetic susceptibility. QSM provides improved contrast to noise ratio for certain tissues and structures compared to its magnitude counterpart. More importantly, magnetic susceptibility is a direct reflection of the molecular composition and cellular architecture of the tissue. Consequently, by quantifying magnetic susceptibility, QSM is becoming a quantitative imaging approach for characterizing normal and pathological tissue properties. This article reviews the mechanism generating susceptibility contrast within tissues and some associated applications

IMAGING PYROMETRY OF SMOLDERING WOOD EMBERS AT VARIOUS DISTANCES AND ILLUMINATIONS

Wildland fires in the WUI present a constant threat to life and property in the United States and across the globe. Many wildland fires are caused by ember spotting, a process in which firebrands are lofted significant distances away from the fire front by combinations of winds and gas flows. These firebrands have the potential to collect and cause new spot fires independent of the original wildland fire. While firebrand mechanisms such as ember generation and transport have been thoroughly studied and quantified, the capacity in which firebrands cause these fires is not as well known. Recent studies have made progress towards determining the surface temperature of these firebrands; however, none have provided repeatable temperature data from a variety of test conditions. This paper presents firebrand surface temperature using color imaging ember pyrometry techniques for various imaging distances and illuminations. A digital color camera was calibrated to a blackbody furnace with a temperature range of 600 – 1200 °C. Calibration to the blackbody allows the normalized pixel values of each image to be converted to temperature using G/R ratio, grayscale, and hybrid pyrometry. Signal to noise ratios of around 850 and 46 for grayscale and ratio pyrometry were obtained. Two simultaneous images of a single ember from distances of 0.5 and 1 m, as well as additional images from 4 m were observed and quantified. The firebrand surface temperature was determined to be independent of imaging distance. The mean surface temperature across all imaging distances was calculated to be 931 ± 6.2 °C. Ratio pyrometry was observed to be the preferred method of imaging pyrometry due to its independence from surface emissivity and transmissivity as well as it’s applicability to real fire scenarios for future research. Firebrands were also imaged in sequences containing various illumination and background color. Illumination was observed to disrupt G/R ratio pyrometry due to an overwhelming increase in green pixel values

Restriction of HIV-1 Genotypes in Breast Milk Does Not Account for the Population Transmission Genetic Bottleneck That Occurs following Transmission

BACKGROUND. Breast milk transmission of HIV-1 remains a major route of pediatric infection. Defining the characteristics of viral variants to which breastfeeding infants are exposed is important for understanding the genetic bottleneck that occurs in the majority of mother-to-child transmissions. The blood-milk epithelial barrier markedly restricts the quantity of HIV-1 in breast milk, even in the absence of antiretroviral drugs. The basis of this restriction and the genetic relationship between breast milk and blood variants are not well established. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. We compared 356 HIV-1 subtype C gp160 envelope (env) gene sequences from the plasma and breast milk of 13 breastfeeding women. A trend towards lower viral population diversity and divergence in breast milk was observed, potentially indicative of clonal expansion within the breast. No differences in potential N-linked glycosylation site numbers or in gp160 variable loop amino acid lengths were identified. Genetic compartmentalization was evident in only one out of six subjects in whom contemporaneously obtained samples were studied. However, in samples that were collected 10 or more days apart, six of seven subjects were classified as having compartmentalized viral populations, highlighting the necessity of contemporaneous sampling for genetic compartmentalization studies. We found evidence of CXCR4 co-receptor using viruses in breast milk and blood in nine out of the thirteen subjects, but no evidence of preferential localization of these variants in either tissue. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE. Despite marked restriction of HIV-1 quantities in milk, our data indicate intermixing of virus between blood and breast milk. Thus, we found no evidence that a restriction in viral genotype diversity in breast milk accounts for the genetic bottleneck observed following transmission. In addition, our results highlight the rapidity of HIV-1 env evolution and the importance of sample timing in analyses of gene flow.National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Institutes of Health (R01 HD 39611, R01 HD 40777); International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Group (U01 AI068632-01); National Institutes of Health Cellular, Biochemical; Molecular Sciences Training Program Grant (T 32 067587

4E10-Resistant HIV-1 Isolated from Four Subjects with Rare Membrane-Proximal External Region Polymorphisms

Human antibody 4E10 targets the highly conserved membrane-proximal external region (MPER) of the HIV-1 transmembrane glycoprotein, gp41, and has extraordinarily broad neutralizing activity. It is considered by many to be a prototype for vaccine development. In this study, we describe four subjects infected with viruses carrying rare MPER polymorphisms associated with resistance to 4E10 neutralization. In one case resistant virus carrying a W680G substitution was transmitted from mother to infant. We used site-directed mutagenesis to demonstrate that the W680G substitution is necessary for conferring the 4E10-resistant phenotype, but that it is not sufficient to transfer the phenotype to a 4E10-sensitive Env. Our third subject carried Envs with a W680R substitution causing variable resistance to 4E10, indicating that residues outside the MPER are required to confer the phenotype. A fourth subject possessed a F673L substitution previously associated with 4E10 resistance. For all three subjects with W680 polymorphisms, we observed additional residues in the MPER that co-varied with position 680 and preserved charged distributions across this region. Our data provide important caveats for vaccine development targeting the MPER. Naturally occurring Env variants described in our study also represent unique tools for probing the structure-function of HIV-1 envelope

Nighttime chemical transformation in biomass burning plumes : A box model analysis initialized with aircraft observations

Biomass burning (BB) is a large source of reactive compounds in the atmosphere. While the daytime photochemistry of BB emissions has been studied in some detail, there has been little focus on nighttime reactions despite the potential for substantial oxidative and heterogeneous chemistry. Here, we present the first analysis of nighttime aircraft intercepts of agricultural BB plumes using observations from the NOAA WP-3D aircraft during the 2013 Southeast Nexus (SENEX) campaign. We use these observations in conjunction with detailed chemical box modeling to investigate the formation and fate of oxidants (NO3, N2O5, O3, and OH) and BB volatile organic compounds (BBVOCs), using emissions representative of agricultural burns (rice straw) and western wildfires (ponderosa pine). Field observations suggest NO3 production was approximately 1 ppbv hr–1, while NO3 and N2O5 were at or below 3 pptv, indicating rapid NO3/N2O5 reactivity. Model analysis shows that >99% of NO3/N2O5 loss is due to BBVOC + NO3 reactions rather than aerosol uptake of N2O5. Nighttime BBVOC oxidation for rice straw and ponderosa pine fires is dominated by NO3 (72, 53%, respectively) but O3 oxidation is significant (25, 43%), leading to roughly 55% overnight depletion of the most reactive BBVOCs and NO2