Evidence of locally enhanced target heating due to instabilities of counter-streaming fast electron beams

The high-current fast electron beams generated in high-intensity laser-solid interactions require the onset of a balancing return current in order to propagate in the target material. Such a system of counter-streaming electron currents is unstable to a variety of instabilities such as the current-filamentation instability and the two-stream instability. An experimental study aimed at investigating the role of instabilities in a system of symmetrical counter-propagating fast electron beams is presented here for the first time. The fast electron beams are generated by double-sided laser-irradiation of a layered target foil at laser intensities above 10(19) W/cm(2). High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the emission from the central Ti layer shows that locally enhanced energy deposition is indeed achieved in the case of counter-propagating fast electron beams

High resolution X-ray spectroscopy in fast electron transport studies

A detailed knowledge of the physical phenomena underlying the generation and the transport of fast electrons generated in high-intensity laser-matter interactions is of fundamental importance for the fast ignition scheme for inertial confinement fusion.

Here we report on an experiment carried out with the VULCAN Petawatt beam and aimed at investigating the role of collisional return currents in the dynamics of the fast electron beam. To that scope, in the experiment counter-propagating electron beams were generated by double-sided irradiation of layered target foils containing a Ti layer. The experimental results were obtained for different time delays between the two laser beams as well as for single-sided irradiation of the target foils. The main diagnostics consisted of two bent mica crystal spectrometers placed at either side of the target foil. High-resolution X-ray spectra of the Ti emission lines in the range from the Ly alpha to the K alpha line were recorded. In addition, 2D X-ray images with spectral resolution were obtained by means of a novel diagnostic technique, the energy-encoded pin-hole camera, based on the use of a pin-hole array equipped with a CCD detector working in single-photon regime. The spectroscopic measurements suggest a higher target temperature for well-aligned laser beams and a precise timing between the two beams. The experimental results are presented and compared to simulation results.

A Temperature-Monitoring Vaginal Ring for Measuring Adherence

Background

Product adherence is a pivotal issue in the development of effective vaginal microbicides to reduce sexual transmission of HIV. To date, the six Phase III studies of vaginal gel products have relied primarily on self-reporting of adherence. Accurate and reliable methods for monitoring user adherence to microbicide-releasing vaginal rings have yet to be established.

Methods

A silicone elastomer vaginal ring prototype containing an embedded, miniature temperature logger has been developed and tested in vitro and in cynomolgus macaques for its potential to continuously monitor environmental temperature and accurately determine episodes of ring insertion and removal.

Results

In vitro studies demonstrated that DST nano-T temperature loggers encapsulated in medical grade silicone elastomer were able to accurately and continuously measure environmental temperature. The devices responded quickly to temperature changes despite being embedded in different thickness of silicone elastomer. Prototype vaginal rings measured higher temperatures compared with a subcutaneously implanted device, showed high sensitivity to diurnal fluctuations in vaginal temperature, and accurately detected periods of ring removal when tested in macaques.

Conclusions

Vaginal rings containing embedded temperature loggers may be useful in the assessment of product adherence in late-stage clinical trials.

Fungal stress biology: A preface to the Fungal Stress Responses special edition

There is currently an urgent need to increase global food security, reverse the trends of increasing cancer rates, protect environmental health, and mitigate climate change. Toward these ends, it is imperative to improve soil health and crop productivity, reduce food spoilage, reduce pesticide usage by increasing the use of biological control, optimize bioremediation of polluted sites, and generate energy from sustainable sources such as biofuels. This review focuses on fungi that can help provide solutions to such problems. We discuss key aspects of fungal stress biology in the context of the papers published in this Special Issue of Current Genetics. This area of biology has relevance to pure and applied research on fungal (and indeed other) systems, including biological control of insect pests, roles of saprotrophic fungi in agriculture and forestry, mycotoxin contamination of the food-supply chain, optimization of microbial fermentations including those used for bioethanol production, plant pathology, the limits of life on Earth, and astrobiology.

The International Symposium on Fungal Stress - ISFUS

Fungi play central roles in many biological processes, influencing soil fertility, decomposition, cycling of minerals, and organic matter, plant health, and nutrition. They produce a wide spectrum of molecules, which are exploited in a range of industrial processes to manufacture foods, food preservatives, flavoring agents, and other useful biological products. Fungi can also be used as biological control agents of microbial pathogens, nematodes or insect pests, and affect plant growth, stress tolerance, and nutrient acquisition. Successful exploitation of fungi requires better understanding of the mechanisms that fungi use to cope with stress as well as the way in which they mediate stress tolerance in other organisms. It is against this backdrop that a scientific meeting on fungal stress was held in São José dos Campos, Brazil, in October 2014. The meeting, hosted by Drauzio E. N. Rangel and Alene E. Alder-Rangel, and supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), brought together more than 30 young, mid-career, and highly accomplished scientists from ten different countries. Here we summarize the highlights of the meeting.

Advanced design optimization of cold-formed steel portal frame buildings

The design optimization of cold-formed steel portal frame buildings is considered in this paper. The objective function is based on the cost of the members for the main frame and secondary members (i.e., purlins, girts, and cladding for walls and roofs) per unit area on the plan of the building. A real-coded niching genetic algorithm is used to minimize the cost of the frame and secondary members that are designed on the basis of ultimate limit state. It iis shown that the proposed algorithm shows effective and robust capacity in generating the optimal solution, owing to the population's diversity being maintained by applying the niching method. In the optimal design, the cost of purlins and side rails are shown to account for 25% of the total cost; the main frame members account for 27% of the total cost, claddings for the walls and roofs accounted for 27% of the total cost.

Prescription contraception use: a cross-sectional population study of psychosocial determinants

Objective: Many forms of contraception are available on prescription only for example, the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) and long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). In this analysis we aim to identify key determinants of prescription contraceptive use.

Design: Cross-sectional population survey. Data on sociodemographic indices, concerns about the OCP and perceived barriers to access were collected.

Setting: Data set constructed from a representative population-based telephone survey of community dwelling adults in the Republic of Ireland (RoI)

Participants: 1515 women aged between 18 and 45 years

Main outcome measure: Self-reported user of the OCP or LARCs (intrauterine contraception, contraceptive injections or subdermal contraceptive implants) in the previous 12 months.

Results: For at least some of the previous year, 35% had used the OCP and 14% had used LARCs, while 3% had used two or more of these methods. OCP users were significantly younger, more likely to be unmarried and had higher income than non-users. Overall, 68% agreed with the statement ‘that taking a break from long-term use of the contraceptive pill is a good idea’ and 37% agreed with the statement that ‘the OCP has dangerous side effects’ and this was the strongest predictor variable of non-use of the OCP. Intrauterine contraception users were significantly older, more likely to be married and had lower income than non-users. Injections or subdermal contraceptive implant users were significantly younger, less likely to be married, had lower income and were less likely to agree that taking a break from long-term use of the pill is a good idea than non-users.

Conclusions: Prescription contraceptive use is sociodemographically patterned, with LARCs in particular being associated with lower incomes in the RoI. Concerns about the safety of the OCP remain prevalent and are important and modifiable determinants of contraceptive-related behaviour.

Contemporary Politics in the Middle East (Cambridge: Polity, 2011 – third edition)

The third edition of this dynamic book has been fully revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to contemporary politics in the Middle East. Purposefully employing a clear thematic structure and including a wide range of case studies, data, visuals and further reading guidance the book explores and analyses the major issues which define the politics of this region of the globe.
Milton-Edwards begins by introducing and explaining key concepts and debates and goes on to outline the impact of colonialism and its legacy, the rise of Arab nationalism and anti-colonial politics. She then examines major political issues affecting the region, such as American foreign policy, political Islam, war and conflict, political economy, democratization, ethnicity and the role of women. The book concludes by highlighting the politics of the region in the twenty-first century and the future challenges it faces. This is a perfect introduction for undergraduates, covering key political, economic and social debates and providing updates and guidance for further reading.

"The genius of this book is that it integrates together the different themes which run through Middle Eastern politics. The coherence of the approach which the author has adopted is indicated by the manner in which she has updated the work in this second edition. Despite the substantial changes which the East has undergone since 9/11 and the 2003 Gulf War, the original line of analysis retains all its force. It remains a key reference for all those who are seeking to understand the region's politics, whether undergraduates, postgraduates or lay readers."
Tim Niblock, Exeter University
"I welcome the new edition of this comprehensive guide to the politics of such an important region of the world. It combines sensible generalizations with useful case studies of particularly important subjects. It is a must for all those who want to understand the complex politics of the modern Middle East."
Roger Owen, Harvard University
"Beverley Milton-Edwards has produced an excellent book, which is both wide-ranging in its coverage and punchy in its arguments. As such, its functions are dual. It works well as a text book, introducing the general reader to key themes in the contemporary region, from oil politics to ethnicity, to women and nationalism. But it also works as a running commentary on key debates, such as the rile of colonialism and the relationship between Islam and democracy. In short, this is a book with attitude."
Philip Robins, St Antony's College, Oxford

Spatio-temporal feeding selection of red deer in a mountainous landscape

Understanding the dietary consumption and selection of wild populations of generalist herbivores is hampered by the complex array of factors. Here, we determine the influence of habitat, season, and animal density, sex, and age on the diet consumption and selection of 426 red deer (Cervus elaphus scoticus) culled in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand. Our site differs from studies elsewhere both in habitat (evergreen angiosperm-dominated forests) and the intensity of hunting pressures. We predicted that deer would not consume forage in proportion to its relative availability, and that dietary consumption would change among and within years in response to hunting pressures that would also limit opportunities for age and sex segregation. Using canonical correspondence analysis, we evaluated the relative importance of different drivers of variation in diet consumption assessed from gut content and related these to available forage in the environment. We found that altitude explained the largest proportion of variation in diet consumption, reflecting the ability of deer to alter their consumption and selection in relation to their foraging grounds. Grasses formed a high proportion of the diet consumption, even for deer culled several kilometres from the alpine grasslands. In the winter months, when the alpine grasslands were largely inaccessible, less grass was eaten and deer resorted to woody plants that were avoided in the summer months. Surprisingly, there were no significant dietary differences between adults and juveniles and only subtle differences between the sexes. Sex-based differences in diet consumption are commonly observed in ungulate species and we suggest that they may have been reduced in our study area owing to decreased heterogeneity in available forage as the diversity of palatable species decreased under high deer browsing pressures, or by intense hunting pressure. © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 Ecological Society of Australia.

Precision dating of the Palaeolithic: A new radiocarbon chronology for the Abri Pataud (France), a key Aurignacian sequence

This paper presents a new series of AMS dates on ultrafiltered bone gelatin extracted from identified cutmarked or humanly-modified bones and teeth from the site of Abri Pataud, in the French Dordogne. The sequence of 32 new determinations provides a coherent and reliable chronology from the site's early Upper Palaeolithic levels 5-14, excavated by Hallam Movius. The results show that there were some problems with the previous series of dates, with many underestimating the real age. The new results, when calibrated and modelled using a Bayesian statistical method, allow detailed understanding of the pace of cultural changes within the Aurignacian I and II levels of the site, something not achievable before. In the future, the sequence of dates will allow wider comparison to similarly dated contexts elsewhere in Europe. High precision dating is only possible by using large suites of AMS dates from humanly-modified material within well understood archaeological sequences modelled using a Bayesian statistical method. © 2011.

The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance

ThetimingofNeanderthal disappearanceandtheextent to whichthey overlapped with the earliest incoming anatomically modern humans (AMHs)inEurasia arekey questions inpalaeoanthropology1,2 .Deter- mining the spatiotemporal relationship between the two populations is crucial if we are to understand the processes, timing and reasons leading to the disappearance of Neanderthals and the likelihood of cultural and genetic exchange. Serious technical challenges, however, havehinderedreliable datingof the period,as theradiocarbonmethod reaches its limit at 50,000 years ago3 .Herewe apply improved accel- erator mass spectrometry 14C techniques to construct robust chro- nologies from 40 key Mousterian and Neanderthal archaeological sites, ranging fromRussia toSpain.Bayesianagemodellingwas used togenerate probability distributionfunctions todetermine the latest appearancedate.Weshowthat theMousterianendedby41,030–39,260 calibratedyears BP(at95.4%probability) acrossEurope.Wealsodem- onstrate that succeeding ‘transitional’ archaeological industries, one ofwhich has beenlinked withNeanderthals (Cha ˆtelperronian)4 ,end at a similar time. Our data indicate that the disappearance of Nean- derthals occurred at different times in different regions.Comparing the data with results obtained fromthe earliest datedAMHsites in Europe, associated with the Uluzzian technocomplex5 , allows us to quantify the temporal overlap between the two human groups. The results revealasignificantoverlap of 2,600–5,400years (at 95.4%prob- ability).This hasimportant implications formodels seeking toexplain the cultural, technological and biological elements involved in the replacement of Neanderthals byAMHs.Amosaic of populations in Europe during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition suggests that there was ample time for the transmission of cultural and sym- bolic behaviours, as well as possible genetic exchanges, between the two groups.