Inner-shelf circulation and sediment dynamics on a series of shoreface-connected ridges offshore of Fire Island, NY

Locations along the inner-continental shelf offshore of Fire Island, NY, are characterized by a series of shoreface-connected ridges (SFCRs). These sand ridges have approximate dimensions of 10 km in length, 3 km spacing, and up to similar to 8 m ridge to trough relief and are oriented obliquely at approximately 30 degrees clockwise from the coastline. Stability analysis from previous studies explains how sand ridges such as these could be formed and maintained by storm-driven flows directed alongshore with a key maintenance mechanism of offshore deflected flows over ridge crests and onshore in the troughs. We examine these processes both with a limited set of idealized numerical simulations and analysis of observational data. Model results confirm that alongshore flows over the SFCRs exhibit offshore veering of currents over the ridge crests and onshore-directed flows in the troughs, and demonstrate the opposite circulation pattern for a reverse wind. To further investigate these maintenance processes, oceanographic instruments were deployed at seven sites on the SFCRs offshore of Fire Island to measure water levels, ocean currents, waves, suspended sediment concentrations, and bottom stresses from January to April 2012. Data analysis reveals that during storms with winds from the northeast, the processes of offshore deflection of currents over ridge crests and onshore in the troughs were observed, and during storm events with winds from the southwest, a reverse flow pattern over the ridges occurred. Computations of suspended sediment fluxes identify periods that are consistent with SFCR maintenance mechanisms. Alongshore winds from the northeast drove fluxes offshore on the ridge crest and onshore in the trough that would tend to promote ridge maintenance. However, alongshore winds from the southwest drove opposite circulations. The wind fields are related to different storm types that occur in the region (low-pressure systems, cold fronts, and warm fronts). From the limited data set, we identify that low-pressure systems drive sediment fluxes that tend to promote stability and maintain the SFCRs while cold front type storms appear to drive circulations that are in the opposite sense and may not be a supporting mechanism for ridge maintenance

Estimating the causal effects of modifiable, non-genetic factors on Huntington disease progression using propensity score weighting

INTRODUCTION: Despite being genetically inherited, it is unclear how non-genetic factors (e.g., substance use, employment) might contribute to the progression and severity of Huntington's disease (HD). METHODS: We used propensity score (PS) weighting in a large (n = 2914) longitudinal dataset (Enroll-HD) to examine the impact of education, employment status, and use of tobacco, alcohol, and recreational and therapeutic drugs on HD progression. Each factor was investigated in isolation while controlling for 19 other factors to ensure that groups were balanced at baseline on potential confounders using PS weights. Outcomes were compared several years later using doubly robust models. RESULTS: Our results highlighted cases where modifiable (non-genetic) factors - namely light and moderate alcohol use and employment - would have been associated with HD progression in models that did not use PS weights to control for baseline imbalances. These associations did not hold once we applied PS weights to balance baseline groups. We also found potential evidence of a protective effect of substance use (primarily marijuana use), and that those who needed antidepressant treatment were likely to progress faster than non-users. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to examine the effect of non-genetic factors on HD using a novel application of PS weighting. We show that previously-reported associated factors - including light and moderate alcohol use - are reduced and no longer significantly linked to HD progression after PS weighting. This indicates the potential value of PS weighting in examining non-genetic factors contributing to HD as well as in addressing the known biases that occur with observational data

Enhanced spectroscopic gas sensors using in-situ grown carbon nanotubes

In this letter, we present a fully complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible microelectromechanical system thermopile infrared (IR) detector employing vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) as an advanced nano-engineered radiation absorbing material. The detector was fabricated using a commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process with tungsten metallization, comprising a silicon thermopile and a tungsten resistive micro-heater, both embedded within a dielectric membrane formed by a deep-reactive ion etch following CMOS processing. In-situ CNT growth on the device was achieved by direct thermal chemical vapour deposition using the integrated micro-heater as a micro-reactor. The growth of the CNT absorption layer was verified through scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The functional effects of the nanostructured ad-layer were assessed by comparing CNT-coated thermopiles to uncoated thermopiles. Fourier transform IR spectroscopy showed that the radiation absorbing properties of the CNT adlayer significantly enhanced the absorptivity, compared with the uncoated thermopile, across the IR spectrum (3 μm–15.5 μm). This led to a four-fold amplification of the detected infrared signal (4.26 μm) in a CO2 non-dispersive-IR gas sensor system. The presence of the CNT layer was shown not to degrade the robustness of the uncoated devices, whilst the 50% modulation depth of the detector was only marginally reduced by 1.5 Hz. Moreover, we find that the 50% normalized absorption angular profile is subsequently more collimated by 8°. Our results demonstrate the viability of a CNT-based SOI CMOS IR sensor for low cost air quality monitoring.This work was partly supported through the EU FP7 project SOI-HITS (No. 288481). MTC thanks the Oppenheimer Trust and the EPSRC IAA for their generous financial support.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP at http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/106/19/10.1063/1.4921170

Suppressed Hysteretic Field Emission from Polymer Encapsulated Silver Nanowires

Suppression of the hysteretic electron emission in one-dimensional nanomaterial-based electron sources remains a critical barrier preventing their wide scale adoption in various vacuum electronics applications. Here, we report on the suppressed hysteretic performance, and its photo-dependence from conformal poly-vinylpyrrolidone encapsulated percolative Ag nanowire-based electron sources.This work was supported in part by the Oppenheimer Research Trust, Cambridge University, and an Impact Acceleration grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council

DC-STAMP knock-down deregulates cytokine production and T-cell stimulatory capacity of LPS-matured dendritic cells

Contains fulltext : 96778.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DCs) are the highly specialized antigen presenting cells of the immune system that play a key role in regulating immune responses. DCs can efficiently initiate immune responses or induce tolerance. Due to this dual function, DCs are studied in the context of immunotherapy for both cancer and autoimmune diseases. Characterization of DC-specific genes, leading to better understanding of DC immunobiology, will help to guide their use in clinical settings. We previously identified DC-STAMP, a multi-membrane spanning protein preferentially expressed by DCs. DC-STAMP resides in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of immature DCs and translocates towards the Golgi compartment upon maturation. In this study we knocked down DC-STAMP in mouse bone marrow-derived DCs (mBMDCs) to determine its function. RESULTS: We demonstrate that DC-STAMP knock-down mBMDCs secrete less IL-6, IL-12, TNF-alpha and IL-10 while IL-1 production is enhanced. Moreover, LPS-matured DC-STAMP knock-down mBMDCs show impaired T cell activation potential and induction of Th1 responses in an alloreaction. CONCLUSIONS: We show that DC-STAMP plays an important role in cytokine production by mBMDCs following LPS exposure. Our results reveal a novel function of DC-STAMP in regulating DC-initiated immune responses

A METODOLOGIA PARA CIÊNCIAS HUMANAS DO CÍRCULO DE BAKHTIN

Este artigo objetiva aprofundar o conhecimento sobre a metodologia para Ciências Humanas proposta pelo Círculo de Bakhtin e particularmente exposta em Estética da Criação Verbal (2003). Sendo o objeto de pesquisa das Ciências humanas expressivo e falante, o grupo russo de filósofos da linguagem assumem que a melhor maneira de compreendê-lo é por meio da dialogia, de uma interação interessada, ética, responsiva e responsável entre o pesquisador e seu objeto de pesquisa

A Preference for a Sexual Signal Keeps Females Safe

Predation is generally thought to constrain sexual selection by female choice and limit the evolution of conspicuous sexual signals. Under high predation risk, females usually become less choosy, because they reduce their exposure to their predators by reducing the extent of their mate searching. However, predation need not weaken sexual selection if, under high predation risk, females exhibit stronger preferences for males that use conspicuous signals that help females avoid their predators. We tested this prediction in the fiddler crab Uca terpsichores by increasing females' perceived predation risk from crab-eating birds and measuring the attractiveness of a courtship signal that females use to find mates. The sexual signal is an arching mound of sand that males build at the openings of their burrows to which they attract females for mating. We found that the greater the risk, the more attractive were males with those structures. The benefits of mate preferences for sexual signals are usually thought to be linked to males' reproductive contributions to females or their young. Our study provides the first evidence that a female preference for a sexual signal can yield direct survival benefits by keeping females safe as they search for mates

Spatially Bandgap-Graded MoS₂₍₁-ₓ₎Se₂ₓ Homojunctions for Self-Powered Visible–Near-Infrared Phototransistors

Ternary transition metal dichalcogenide alloys with spatially graded bandgaps are an emerging class of two-dimensional materials with unique features, which opens up new potential for device applications. Here, visible–near-infrared and self-powered phototransistors based on spatially bandgap-graded MoS2(1−x)Se2x alloys, synthesized by a simple and controllable chemical solution deposition method, are reported. The graded bandgaps, arising from the spatial grading of Se composition and thickness within a single domain, are tuned from 1.83 to 1.73 eV, leading to the formation of a homojunction with a built-in electric field. Consequently, a strong and sensitive gate-modulated photovoltaic effect is demonstrated, enabling the homojunction phototransistors at zero bias to deliver a photoresponsivity of 311 mA W−1, a specific detectivity up to ~ 1011 Jones, and an on/off ratio up to ~ 104. Remarkably, when illuminated by the lights ranging from 405 to 808 nm, the biased devices yield a champion photoresponsivity of 191.5 A W−1, a specific detectivity up to ~ 1012 Jones, a photoconductive gain of 106–107, and a photoresponsive time in the order of ~ 50 ms. These results provide a simple and competitive solution to the bandgap engineering of two-dimensional materials for device applications without the need for p–n junctions

Huntington disease: natural history, biomarkers and prospects for therapeutics

Huntington disease (HD) can be seen as a model neurodegenerative disorder, in that it is caused by a single genetic mutation and is amenable to predictive genetic testing, with estimation of years to predicted onset, enabling the entire range of disease natural history to be studied. Structural neuroimaging biomarkers show that progressive regional brain atrophy begins many years before the emergence of diagnosable signs and symptoms of HD, and continues steadily during the symptomatic or 'manifest' period. The continued development of functional, neurochemical and other biomarkers raises hopes that these biomarkers might be useful for future trials of disease-modifying therapeutics to delay the onset and slow the progression of HD. Such advances could herald a new era of personalized preventive therapeutics. We describe the natural history of HD, including the timing of emergence of motor, cognitive and emotional impairments, and the techniques that are used to assess these features. Building on this information, we review recent progress in the development of biomarkers for HD, and potential future roles of these biomarkers in clinical trials