Portable lightweight cell provides controlled environment

Inflatable, lightweight cell provides a separate, secondary environment for a spacesuited man in case of spacesuit damage or malfunction. The cell has a pressure-sealing zipper and is equipped to maintain a livable atmosphere

Glacial erosion in the Scottish highlands

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Reconnoissance of the Guadalupe mountains

Pt. I : Reconnoissance section across the Permian of central Texas. Pt. II : Geology of the Guadalupe mountains. Pt. III : Economics of the Guadalupe mountainsUT Librarie

Drumming in time is easy: social bonding effects of synchrony arise from reduced cognitive load

The synchrony-bonding effect has often been observed, but the mechanisms behind it remain poorly understood. Numerous possible mechanisms have been proposed, however simple perceptual processing explanations have been largely ignored. The present study tested a theory based on processing fluency across two controlled experiments. In the first study, 104 participants completed a drumming task in a within-subjects design in which they also completed a secondary visual attention task. We found that when drumming in non-synchrony, performance was worse on the secondary task, indicating increased cognitive load. In the second study, 82 participants performed a similar drumming task, however instead of the secondary task they were asked to self- report how difficult they found the tapping task and how much they liked the person they were drumming with. Participants reported that drumming in synchrony felt easier and produced greater feelings of social connection than drumming out of synchrony. Taken together, these studies suggest that synchrony may promote processing fluency, which in turn leads to prosocial effects

JFET integration using a foundry SOI photonics platform

We explore the monolithic integration of conventional electronics with SOI photonics using the commercial silicon photonics foundry technology offered by A*STAR's Institute of Microelectronics (IME). This process offers optical waveguide modulators and photodetectors, but was not intended to support transistors. We present the implementation of junction field effect transistors (JFETs) integrated with optical waveguides and photodetectors. A simple SPICE model is developed for the JFETs based on the available ion implant parameters, and the geometry feature size allowed by the technology's layout rules. We have demonstrated the monolithic integration of photonics and electronics circuits. This work could be useful for application in waveguide sensors and optical telecommunications

Discordant transmission of bacteria and viruses from mothers to babies at birth

BACKGROUND: The earliest microbial colonizers of the human gut can have life-long consequences for their hosts. Precisely how the neonatal gut bacterial microbiome and virome are initially populated is not well understood. To better understand how the maternal gut microbiome influences acquisition of the infant gut microbiome, we studied the early life bacterial microbiomes and viromes of 28 infant twin pairs and their mothers. RESULTS: Infant bacterial and viral communities more closely resemble those of their related co-twin than unrelated infants. We found that 63% of an infant\u27s bacterial microbiome can be traced to their mother\u27s gut microbiota. In contrast, only 15% of their viral communities are acquired from their mother. Delivery route did not determine how much of the bacterial microbiome or virome was shared from mother to infant. However, bacteria-bacteriophage interactions were altered by delivery route. CONCLUSIONS: The maternal gut microbiome significantly influences infant gut microbiome acquisition. Vertical transmission of the bacterial microbiome is substantially higher compared to vertical transmission of the virome. However, the degree of similarity between the maternal and infant gut bacterial microbiome and virome did not vary by delivery route. The greater similarity of the bacterial microbiome and virome between twin pairs than unrelated twins may reflect a shared environmental exposure. Thus, differences of the inter-generation transmissibility at birth between the major kingdoms of microbes indicate that the foundation of these microbial communities are shaped by different rules. Video Abstract

Symmetry breaking from confined water wave fields propels an oscillating robot

We discover a new phenomenon in which a symmetrically oscillating, free-floating robot can be attracted to or repelled from a horizontal boundary. The device generates radially expanding gravity-capillary (GC) waves at the fluid surface. Visualization of the wave field dynamics reveals that when near a boundary, the complex interference of generated and reflected waves induces a wave amplitude asymmetry that generates a net radiation force that drives robot motion. Direct force measurements reveal that attraction increases as wave frequency increases or robot-boundary separation decreases. Theory on confined GC wave radiation dynamics developed by Hocking in the 1980s captures the observed parameter dependence due to these ``Hocking fields".Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 8 supplementary figure