An interface between a datametrics 1085A manometer and a Hewlett-Packard 2100S computer

A hardware/software interface designed to mate a Datametrics models 1085A electronic manometer to a Hewlett-Packard (HP) model 2100S computer is described. The software driver operates in the basic control system (BCS) and requires 173 words of memory; the hardware interface uses an HP data source interface (DSI) card which requires one computer input/output channel. Results obtained by incorporating this interface into a data acquisition system indicate that the interface operates successfully

Gothic Nature Revisited: Reflections on the Gothic of Ecocriticism

The 2017 ‘Gothic Nature I’ conference in Dublin, Ireland, and the launch of the new journal Gothic Nature: New Directions in Ecohorror and the EcoGothic present an occasion to reflect on how the entangled fields of ecocriticism and Gothic literary studies have developed and evolved over the past decade. While ecocritics have historically been slow and at times reluctant to embrace Gothic texts and approaches, in recent years that has begun to change. This essay argues that the development of ecocriticism itself can been read as a type of Gothic story. If imagined figuratively as if it were a horror film, the field of ecocriticism is at a point where it is confronting the monster that has been hidden in the basement. This can be seen in the current scholarly interest in topics such as slow violence, ecosickness, environmental injustice, environmental grief, the Anthropocene, and the vibrancy of all matter. The neologism ‘ecoGothic’, despite its sometimes uncertain and unstable usage, and despite the sometimes contested methods and meanings of ‘ecocriticism’ and ‘Gothic’ themselves, shows potential to help scholars productively explore the multiplicity of topics at the nexus of ecocriticism and the Gothic. In this regard, this essay argues that Kristeva’s ‘abjection’ a concept long employed in Gothic studies, can aid ecocritics in examining that which is ambiguous, disorderly, unsettling both in the texts they study, and in their understanding of the trajectory of ecocriticism itself

Electrical system/environment interactions on the planet Mars

The Martian environment is a diverse environment with which systems will interact in numerous ways. Preliminary thoughts on electrical system/environment interactions which might be of interest to system designers at all stages of system design are presented. These interactions are primarily related to electrical charging, contamination, and Martian surface sand and dust

Natural and Synthetic Corticosteroids Inhibit Uptake\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e-Mediated Transport in CNS Neurons

In addition to exerting actions via mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors, corticosteroids also act by inhibiting uptake2, a high-capacity monoamine transport system originally described in peripheral tissues. Recent studies have demonstrated that uptake2 transporters are expressed in the brain and play roles in monoamine clearance, suggesting that they mediate some corticosteroid effects on physiological and behavioral processes. However, the sensitivity of brain uptake2 to many natural and synthetic corticosteroids has not been characterized. Cultured rat cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) were previously shown to exhibit corticosterone-sensitive accumulation of the uptake2 substrate1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+). We examined the expression of uptake1 and uptake2 transporters in CGNs, and tested the effects of a variety of natural and synthetic corticosteroids on accumulation of [3H]-MPP+ by these cells. Cultured rat CGNs expressed mRNA for three uptake2-like transporters: organic cation transporters 1 and 3, and the plasma membrane monoamine transporter. They did not express mRNA for the dopamine or norepinephrine transporters, and expressed very little mRNA for the serotonin reuptake transporter. Accumulation of [3H]-MPP+ by CGNs was dose-dependently inhibited by corticosterone and decynium-22, known inhibitors of uptake2. Accumulation of MPP+ was also dose-dependently inhibited, with varying efficacies, by aldosterone, 11-deoxycorticosterone, cortisol, and cortisone, and by the synthetic glucocorticoids betamethasone, dexamethasone and prednisolone, and the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU38486. These studies demonstrate that uptake2 in the CNS is inhibited by a variety of natural and synthetic corticosteroids, and suggest that inhibition of uptake2-mediated monoamine clearance may underlie some behavioral and physiological effects of these hormones

Planar Rayleigh scattering results in helium-air mixing experiments in a Mach-6 wind tunnel

Planar Rayleigh scattering measurements with an argon—fluoride excimer laser are performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment is demonstrated in a large-scale, Mach-6 facility. The detection limit obtained with the present setup indicates that planar, quantitative measurements of density can be made over a large cross-sectional area (5 cm × 10 cm) of the flow field in the absence of clusters

Before the West Was West

Before the West Was West examines the extent to which scholars have engaged in-depth with pre-1800 “western” texts and asks what we mean by “western” American literature in the first place and when that designation originated. Calling into question the implicit temporal boundaries of the “American West” in literature, a literature often viewed as having commenced only at the beginning of the 1800s, Before the West Was West explores the concrete, meaningful connections between different texts as well as the development of national ideologies and mythologies. Examining pre-nineteenth-century writings that do not fit conceptions of the Wild West or of cowboys, cattle ranching, and the Pony Express, these thirteen essays demonstrate that no single, unified idea or geography defines the American West. Contributors investigate texts ranging from the Norse Vinland Sagas and Mary Rowlandson’s famous captivity narrative to early Spanish and French exploration narratives, an eighteenth-century English novel, and a play by Aphra Behn. Through its examination of the disparate and multifaceted body of literature that arises from a broad array of cultural backgrounds and influences,Before the West Was West apprehends the literary West in temporal as well as spatial and cultural terms and poses new questions about “westernness” and its literary representation