InSight Aerothermal Environment Assessment

The Mars Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft, which successfully touched down on the planet surface on November 26, 2018, was proposed as a near build-to-print copy of the Mars Phoenix vehicle to reduce the overall cost and risk of the mission. Since the lander payload and the atmospheric entry trajectory were similar enough to those of the Phoenix mission, it was expected that the Phoenix thermal protection material thickness would be sufficient to withstand the entry heat load. However, allowances were made for increasing the heatshield thickness because the planned spacecraft arrival date coincided with the Mars dust storm season. The aftbody Thermal Protection System (TPS) components were not expected to change. In a first for a US Mars mission, the aerothermal environments for InSight included estimates of radiative heat flux to the aftbody from the wake. The combined convective and radiative heat fluxes were used to determine if the as-flown Phoenix thermal protection system (TPS) design would be sufficient for InSight. Although the radiative heat fluxes on the aftbody were predicted to be comparable to, or even higher than the local convective heat fluxes, all analyses of the aftbody TPS showed that the design would still be adequate. Aerothermal environments were computed for the vehicle from post-flight reconstruction of the atmosphere and trajectory and compared with the design environments. These comparisons showed that the predicted as-flown conditions were less severe than the design conditions

Eating As Treatment (EAT): A Stepped-Wedge, Randomized Controlled Trial of a Health Behavior Change Intervention Provided by Dietitians to Improve Nutrition in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Radiation Therapy (TROG 12.03)

Purpose: Malnutrition in head and neck cancer (HNC) treatment is common and associated with poorer morbidity and mortality outcomes. This trial aimed to improve nutritional status during radiation therapy (RT) using a novel method of training dietitians to deliver psychological techniques to improve nutritional behaviors in patients with HNC. Methods and Materials: This trial used a stepped-wedge, randomized controlled design to assess the efficacy of the Eating As Treatment (EAT) program. Based on motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy, EAT was designed to be delivered by oncology dietitians and integrated into their clinical practice. During control steps, dietitians provided treatment as usual, before being trained in EAT and moving into the intervention phase. The training was principles based and sought to improve behavior-change skills rather than provide specific scripts. Patients recruited to the trial (151 controls, 156 intervention) were assessed at 4 time points (the first and the final weeks of RT, and 4 and 12 weeks afterward). The primary outcome was nutritional status at the end of RT as measured by the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment. Results: Patients who received the EAT intervention had significantly better scores on the primary outcome of nutritional status at the critical end-of-treatment time point (β = −1.53 [−2.93 to −.13], P =.03). Intervention patients were also significantly more likely than control patients to be assessed as well-nourished at each time point, lose a smaller percentage of weight, have fewer treatment interruptions, present lower depression scores, and report a higher quality of life. Although results were not statistically significant, patients who received the intervention had fewer and shorter unplanned hospital admissions. Conclusions: This trial is the first of its kind to demonstrate the effectiveness of a psychological intervention to improve nutrition in patients with HNC who are receiving RT. The intervention provides a means to ameliorate malnutrition and the important related outcomes and consequently should be incorporated into standard care for patients receiving RT for HNC

Spin-resolved electron-impact ionization of lithium

Electron-impact ionization of lithium is studied using the convergent close-coupling (CCC) method at 25.4 and 54.4 eV. Particular attention is paid to the spin-dependence of the ionization cross sections. Convergence is found to be more rapid for the spin asymmetries, which are in good agreement with experiment, than for the underlying cross sections. Comparison with the recent measured and DS3C-calculated data of Streun et al (1999) is most intriguing. Excellent agreement is found with the measured and calculated spin asymmetries, yet the discrepancy between the CCC and DS3C cross sections is very large

"Ordinary, the same as anywhere else": notes on the management of spoiled identity in 'marginal' middle class neighbourhoods

Urban sociologists are becoming increasingly interested in neighbourhood as a source of middle-class identity. Particular emphasis is currently being given to two types of middle-class neighbourhood; gentrified urban neighbourhoods of ‘distinction’ and inconspicuous ‘suburban landscapes of privilege’. However, there has been a dearth of work on ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods that are similarly ‘inconspicuous’ rather than distinctive, but less exclusive, thus containing sources of ‘spoiled identity’. This article draws on data gathered from two ‘marginal’ middleclass neighbourhoods that contained a particular source of ‘spoiled identity’: social renters. Urban sociological analyses of neighbour responses to these situations highlight a process of dis-identification with the maligned object, which exacerbates neighbour differences. Our analysis of data from the ‘marginal’ middle-class neighbourhoods suggests something entirely different and Goffmanesque. This entailed the management of spoiled identity, which emphasized similarities rather than differences between neighbours.</p

Unfolding Rates for the Diffusion-Collision Model

In the diffusion-collision model, the unfolding rates are given by the likelihood of secondary structural cluster dissociation. In this work, we introduce an unfolding rate calculation for proteins whose secondary structural elements are $\alpha$-helices, modeled from thermal escape over a barrier which arises from the free energy in buried hydrophobic residues. Our results are in good agreement with currently accepted values for the attempt rate.Comment: Shorter version of cond-mat/0011024 accepted for publication in PR

Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Organic Food and Farming

TP Organics is the European Technology Platform for organic food and farming, and for low-input agriculture. Established in 2008, it brings together small and medium-sized enterprises, larger companies, farmers, researchers, consumers and civil society organisations involved in the organic value chain from production, input and supply, to food processing, marketing and consumption. It identifies research and innovation needs and communicates them to policy-makers. The aim is to leverage the organic sector’s contribution to sustainable farming and food production. Since 2013, TP Organics is officially recognised by the European Commission as one of 40 European Technology Platforms (ETPs). TP Organics published its first Strategic Research Agenda in 2009. This proved very successful, as about a third of the research questions identified gained funding through the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7) of the EU, or through transnational research programmes (ERA-Nets) and national research projects. With the end of the 7th Framework Programme and the start of the new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, TP Organics decided to revise its research agenda. This new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda is the product of an intensive participatory process, which lasted for a year and a half and benefited from three consultations

In-Network Outlier Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks

To address the problem of unsupervised outlier detection in wireless sensor networks, we develop an approach that (1) is flexible with respect to the outlier definition, (2) computes the result in-network to reduce both bandwidth and energy usage,(3) only uses single hop communication thus permitting very simple node failure detection and message reliability assurance mechanisms (e.g., carrier-sense), and (4) seamlessly accommodates dynamic updates to data. We examine performance using simulation with real sensor data streams. Our results demonstrate that our approach is accurate and imposes a reasonable communication load and level of power consumption.Comment: Extended version of a paper appearing in the Int'l Conference on Distributed Computing Systems 200

COMT Val(158)Met genotypes differentially influence subgenual cingulate functional connectivity in healthy females

Brain imaging studies have cons stently shown subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortical (sgACC) involvement in emotion processing. catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158) and Met(158) polymorphisms may influence such emotional brain processes in specific ways. Given that resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) may increase our understanding on brain functioning, we integrated genetic and rsfMRI data and focused on sgACC functional connections. No studies have yet investigated the influence of the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism (rs4680) on sgACC resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in healthy individuals. A homogeneous group of 61 Caucasian right-handed healthy female university students, all within the same age range, underwent isfMRI. Compared to Met158 homozygotes, Val(158) allele carriers displayed significantly stronger rsFC between the sgACC and the left parahippocampal gyrus, ventromedial parts of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). On the other hand, compared to Val(158) homozygotes, we found in Met(158) allele carriers stronger sgACC rsFC with the medial frontal gyrus (MEG), more in particular the anterior parts of the medial orbitofrontal cortex. Although we did not use emotional or cognitive tasks, our sgACC rsFC results point to possible distinct differences in emotional and cognitive processes between Val(158) and Met(158) allele carriers. Hovvever, the exact nature of these directions remains to be determined

V2494 cyg: A unique FU ori type object in the cygnus OB7 complex

A photometric and spectral study of the variable star V2494 Cyg in the L 1003 dark cloud is presented. The brightness of the star, formerly known as HH 381 IRS, increased by 2.5 mag in R (probably in the 1980s) and since then has remained nearly constant. Since the brightness increase, V2494 Cyg has illuminated a bipolar cometary nebula. The stellar spectrum has several features typical of the FU Ori (FUor) type, plus it exhibits very strong Ha and forbidden emissionlines with high-velocity components. These emission lines originate in the Herbig-Haro (HH) jet near the star. The kinematic age of the jet is consistent with it forming at the time of the outburst leading to the luminosity increase. V2494 Cyg also produces a rather extended outflow; it is the first known FUor with both an observed outburst and a parsec-sized HH flow. The nebula, illuminated by V2494 Cyg, possesses similar morphological and spectral characteristics to Hubble's variable nebula (R Monocerotis/NGC 2261). © 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society

Mapping species distributions: A comparison of skilled naturalist and lay citizen science recording

To assess the ability of traditional biological recording schemes and lay citizen science approaches to gather data on species distributions and changes therein, we examined bumblebee records from the UK’s national repository (National Biodiversity Network) and from BeeWatch. The two recording approaches revealed similar relative abundances of bumblebee species but different geographical distributions. For the widespread common carder (Bombus pascuorum), traditional recording scheme data were patchy, both spatially and temporally, reflecting active record centre rather than species distribution. Lay citizen science records displayed more extensive geographic coverage, reflecting human population density, thus offering better opportunities to account for recording effort. For the rapidly spreading tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), both recording approaches revealed similar distributions due to a dedicated mapping project which overcame the patchy nature of naturalist records. We recommend, where possible, complementing skilled naturalist recording with lay citizen science programmes to obtain a nation-wide capability, and stress the need for timely uploading of data to the national repository