Alternating current electromagnetic servo induction meter

Electromagnetic device accurately indicates the responses of various sensors in high performance flight research aircraft to conditions encountered in flight. The device responds to sensor inputs to move a slideable armature along an indicator scale by the force of currents induced in the armature winding

Air-deployable profiling floats

Author Posting. © The Oceanography Society, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of The Oceanography Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Oceanography 30, no. 2 (2017): 29–31, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2017.214.We describe the development of a small profiling float, the ALAMO (Air-Launched Autonomous Micro-Observer), that observes upper-ocean structure over a year. These floats can be launched from any aircraft equipped with an “A-sized” launch tube, or from the door of any other aircraft. Profiling floats have found wide use in the oceanographic community, from their original design in the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (Davis et al., 1992) to their current widespread usage in the Argo program (Riser et al., 2016). The utility of profiling floats derives from their relative affordability and their autonomous nature once deployed. The ALAMO float works on the same principles as the ALACE (Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorer) profiling float designed by Davis et al. (1992), which developed into the SOLO (Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer) profiling floats used in the Argo program today (Davis et al., 2001). The ALAMO float represents a natural progression of those earlier designs.This work was supported by NOAA grant NA13OAR4830233 as part of CINAR Sandy Supplemental funding and ONR grant N00014-15-12293

Method for forming articles having deep drawn portions from matted wood flakes

An article having non-planar portions, such as a material handling pallet, including a substantially flat deck member and a plurality of hollow leg members projecting integrally from the deck member, is molded as a one-piece unit from a loosely-felted mat formed from a mixture of resinous particle board binder and flake-like wood particles. The leg members are preformed in a separate preform mold or the article forming mold and the mat is deposited on the female die over mold cavities containing the preforms. When the article forming mold is closed, the mat and preforms are compressed into substantially the desired shape and size under temperature and pressure conditions which bond the wood particles of the mat and the preforms together to form a unitary structure.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/patents/1091/thumbnail.jp

Asymmetric polarity reversals, bimodal field distribution, and coherence resonance in a spherically symmetric mean-field dynamo model

Using a mean-field dynamo model with a spherically symmetric helical turbulence parameter alpha which is dynamically quenched and disturbed by additional noise, the basic features of geomagnetic polarity reversals are shown to be generic consequences of the dynamo action in the vicinity of exceptional points of the spectrum. This simple paradigmatic model yields long periods of constant polarity which are interrupted by self-accelerating field decays leading to asymmetric polarity reversals. It shows the recently discovered bimodal field distribution, and it gives a natural explanation of the correlation between polarity persistence time and field strength. In addition, we find typical features of coherence resonance in the dependence of the persistence time on the noise.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Circadian Rhythms Affect Electroretinogram, Compound Eye Color, Striking Behavior and Locomotion of the Praying Mantis Hierodula patellifera

Many behaviors and physiological processes oscillate with circadian rhythms that are synchronized to environmental cues (e.g. light onset), but persist with periods of ~24 h in the absence of such cues. We used a multilevel experimental approach to assess whether circadian rhythms modulate several aspects of the visual physiology and behavior of the praying mantis Hierodula patellifera. We used electroretinograms (ERGs) to assess compound eye sensitivity, colorimetric photographic analyses to assess compound eye color changes (screening pigment migration), behavioral assays of responsiveness to computer-generated prey-like visual stimuli and analyses of locomotor activity patterns on a modified treadmill apparatus. Our results indicate that circadian clocks control and/or modulate each of the target behaviors. Strong rhythms, persisting under constant conditions, with periods of ~24 h were evident in photoreceptor sensitivity to light, appetitive responsiveness to preylike stimuli and gross locomotor activity. In the first two cases, responsiveness was highest during the subjective night and lowest during the subjective day. Locomotor activity was strongly clustered around the transition time from day to night. In addition, pigment migration and locomotor behavior responded strongly to light:dark cycles and anticipated the light–dark transition, suggesting that the circadian clocks modulating both were entrained to environmental light cues. Together, these data indicate that circadian rhythms operate at the cellular, cellular systems and organismal level in H. patellifera. Our results represent an intriguing first step in uncovering the complexities of circadian rhythms in the Mantode

The air-launched autonomous micro observer

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2022. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 39(4), (2022): 491–502, https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-21-0046.1.The Air-Launched Autonomous Micro Observer (ALAMO) is a versatile profiling float that can be launched from an aircraft to make temperature and salinity observations of the upper ocean for over a year with high temporal sampling. Similar in dimensions and weight to an airborne expendable bathythermograph (AXBT), but with the same capability as Argo profiling floats, ALAMOs can be deployed from an A-sized (sonobuoy) launch tube, the stern ramp of a cargo plane, or the door of a small aircraft. Unlike an AXBT, however, the ALAMO float directly measures pressure, can incorporate additional sensors, and is capable of performing hundreds of ocean profiles compared to the single temperature profile provided by an AXBT. Upon deployment, the float parachutes to the ocean, releases the air-deployment package, and immediately begins profiling. Ocean profile data along with position and engineering information are transmitted via the Iridium satellite network, automatically processed, and then distributed by the Global Telecommunications System for use by the operational forecasting community. The ALAMO profiling mission can be modified using the two-way Iridium communications to change the profiling frequency and depth. Example observations are included to demonstrate the ALAMO’s utility.This work was supported by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration under Grants NA13OAR4830233 (as part of CINAR Sandy Supplemental funding from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013) and NA14OAR4320158 and by Office of Naval Research under Grants N0001416WX01384, N0001416WX01262, and N000141512293. ALAMO floats are commercially available from MRV Systems, LLC (https://www.mrvsys.com)

Comparative genomics reveals 104 candidate structured RNAs from bacteria, archaea, and their metagenomes

Novel motifs identified in a comparative genomic analysis of bacterial, archaeal and metagenomic data reveals over 100 candidate structured RNAs

EvoBot: Towards a Robot-Chemostat for Culturing and Maintaining Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)

In this paper we present EvoBot, a RepRap open-source 3D-printer modified to operate like a robot for culturing and maintaining Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs). EvoBot is a modular liquid handling robot that has been adapted to host MFCs in its experimental layer, gather data from the MFCs and react on the set thresholds based on a feedback loop. This type of robot-MFC interaction, based on the feedback loop mechanism, will enable us to study further the adaptability and stability of these systems. To date, EvoBot has automated the nurturing process of MFCs with the aim of controlling liquid delivery, which is akin to a chemostat. The chemostat is a well-known microbiology method for culturing bacterial cells under controlled conditions with continuous nutrient supply. EvoBot is perhaps the first pioneering attempt at functionalizing the 3D printing technology by combining it with the chemostat methods. In this paper, we will explore the experiments that EvoBot has carried out so far and how the platform has been optimised over the past two years

Early postnatal EEG features of perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke with seizures

Background: Stroke is the second most common cause of seizures in term neonates and is associated with abnormal long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in some cases. Objective: To aid diagnosis earlier in the postnatal period, our aim was to describe the characteristic EEG patterns in term neonates with perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke (PAIS) seizures. Design: Retrospective observational study. Patients: Neonates >37 weeks born between 2003 and 2011 in two hospitals. Method: Continuous multichannel video-EEG was used to analyze the background patterns and characteristics of seizures. Each EEG was assessed for continuity, symmetry, characteristic features and sleep cycling; morphology of electrographic seizures was also examined. Each seizure was categorized as electrographic-only or electroclinical; the percentage of seizure events for each seizure type was also summarized. Results: Nine neonates with PAIS seizures and EEG monitoring were identified. While EEG continuity was present in all cases, the background pattern showed suppression over the infarcted side; this was quite marked (>50% amplitude reduction) when the lesion was large. Characteristic unilateral bursts of theta activity with sharp or spike waves intermixed were seen in all cases. Sleep cycling was generally present but was more disturbed over the infarcted side. Seizures demonstrated a characteristic pattern; focal sharp waves/spike-polyspikes were seen at frequency of 1-2 Hz and phase reversal over the central region was common. Electrographic-only seizure events were more frequent compared to electroclinical seizure events (78 vs 22%). Conclusions: Focal electrographic and electroclinical seizures with ipsilateral suppression of the background activity and focal sharp waves are strong indicators of PAIS. Approximately 80% of seizure events were the result of clinically unsuspected seizures in neonates with PAIS. Prolonged and continuous multichannel video-EEG monitoring is advocated for adequate seizure surveillance