The aim of this study was to better understand the relation of schizotypy traits with sensory gating ability in a sample of community-dwelling individuals with high and low schizotypy traits. Sensory ...gating was assessed through the paired click paradigm and mid-latency evoked responses (i.e., P50, N100, P200), while schizotypy traits were assessed through the SPQ-BR which was used to classify participants into "high" and "low" schizotypy groups. Based on prior work, we hypothesized that those with the highest schizotypy scores would have reduced sensory gating ability. While this study does not show differences between relatively low and high schizotypy groups on sensory gating ability, it does suggest that our participants may have been experiencing deficits in attention allocation, a downstream cognitive processing measure. Scores on the SPQ-BR suggest that our sample was not close to the high end of the schizotypy traits which may help explain why no differences were found. This research shows the importance of including all levels of schizotypy ratings in clinical research as we can gain a clearer view of the impact of schizotypy on the brain and cognitive functioning in those with "high" levels of schizotypy. Additionally, this work highlights the importance of including measures of important factors such as impulsivity and sensation-seeking to better understand what aspects of schizotypy may be driving these sensory gating alterations reported in the literature.
We present an analysis of Galactic bulge stars from Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 observations of the Stanek window (l, b = 0.25, −2.15) from two epochs approximately two years apart. ...This data set is adjacent to the provisional Wide-field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) microlensing field. Proper motions are measured for approximately 115,000 stars down to 28th mag in V band and 25th mag in I band, with accuracies of 0.5 mas yr−1 (20 km s−1) at I 21. A cut on the longitudinal proper motion l allows us to separate disk and bulge populations and produce bulge-only star counts that are corrected for photometric completeness and efficiency of the proper-motion cut. The kinematic dispersions and surface density in the field are compared to the nearby SWEEPS sight line, finding a marginally larger-than-expected gradient in stellar density. The observed bulge star counts and kinematics are further compared to the Besançon, Galaxia, and GalMod Galactic population synthesis models. We find that most of the models underpredict low-mass bulge stars by ∼33% below the main-sequence turnoff, and upwards of ∼70% at redder J and H wavebands. While considering inaccuracies in the Galactic models, we give implications for the exoplanet yield from the WFIRST microlensing mission.
Abstract
We present the first star formation history (SFH) and age–metallicity relation (AMR) derived from resolved stellar populations imaged with the JWST NIRCam instrument. The target is the Local ...Group star-forming galaxy WLM at 970 kpc. The depth of the color–magnitude diagram (CMD) reaches below the oldest main sequence turnoff with a signal-to-noise ratio = 10 at
M
F090W
= + 4.6 mag. This is the deepest CMD for any galaxy that is not a satellite of the Milky Way. We use Hubble Space Telescope (HST) optical imaging that overlaps with the NIRCam observations to directly evaluate the SFHs derived based on data from the two great observatories. The JWST and HST-based SFHs are in excellent agreement. We use the metallicity distribution function measured from stellar spectra to confirm the trends in the AMRs based on the JWST data. Together, these results confirm the efficacy of recovering an SFH and AMR with the NIRCam F090W−F150W filter combination, and validate the sensitivity and accuracy of stellar evolution libraries in the near-infrared relative to the optical for SFH recovery work. From the JWST data, WLM shows an early onset to star formation, followed by an extended pause post-reionization before star formation reignites, which is qualitatively similar to what has been observed in the isolated galaxies Leo A and Aquarius. Quantitatively, 15% of the stellar mass formed in the first Gyr, while only 10% formed over the next ∼5 Gyr. The stellar mass then rapidly doubled in ∼2.5 Gyr, followed by constant star formation over the last ∼5 Gyr.
Ameliorating biological attributes of agricultural soils is desirable, and one avenue is introducing beneficial microbes via commercial biostimulant products. Although gaining popularity with ...farmers, scientific evaluation of such products in field-grown crops is often lacking. We tested two microbial products, Soil-Life™ and Nutri-Life Platform®, in a commercial sugarcane crop by profiling bacterial and fungal communities in soil and roots using high throughput phylogenetic marker gene sequencing. The products, one predominantly consisting of
Lactobacillus
and the other of
Trichoderma
, were applied as a mixture as per manufacturers’ instructions. Additives included in the formulations were not listed, and plots that did not receive the product mixture were the controls. The compositions of bacterial communities of soil and sugarcane roots, sampled 2, 5 and 25 weeks after application, were unaffected by the products. Soil fungal communities were also unaffected, but sugarcane roots had a greater relative abundance of three unidentified taxa in genera
Marasmius
,
Fusarium
and
Talaromyces
in the treated plots. Sugarcane yield was similar across all treatments that included a 25% lower nitrogen fertiliser rate. Further research must examine if the altered root fungal community is a consistent feature of the tested products, and if it conveys benefits. We conclude that putative biostimulants can be evaluated by analysing the composition of microbial communities. DNA profiling should be complemented by cost-benefit analysis to build a public information base documenting the effects of microbial biostimulants. Such knowledge will assist manufacturers in product development and farmers in making judicious decisions on product selection, to ensure that the anticipated benefits of microbial biostimulants are realised for broad acre cropping.
A model is created to predict the heat transfer performance of oblique and normal jet impingement arrays of arbitrary extent. The simplicity of the model, being based on just two equations, allows ...for ease of implementation and relatively few computations. Comparing the performance of the predictive model with experiment yielded a mean absolute error of 2.9%. Comparison with two frequently referenced correlations in literature show mean absolute errors of 14% and 18% for considerably different test conditions, and comparisons with raw data from these studies have yielded even lower error. The proposed numerical model has a higher accuracy than current CFD implementations and is less computationally involved than full direct numerical simulation.
The objective of this study was to elucidate the relationship between HIV anti-retroviral therapy and tooth wear.
Assessment of tooth wear was conducted both with a survey questionnaire and clinical ...assessment at Russell Street Dental Clinic in Portland, Oregon. The survey questionnaire comprised of questions on study participant's gender, age, HIV status, current medications, awareness of tooth grinding or clenching, jaw soreness, tooth or gum soreness, and frequency of headaches. For the clinical evaluation, a dental provider recorded the degree of wear on each tooth using a scale of 0-3. An individual tooth-wear index was used to rank patients with regard to incisal and occlusal wear. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, tests of association and regression analysis using SPSS V.24.
The study sample involved 93 patients (HIV + ve = 60, HIV-ve = 33) with age range of 20-90 yrs. (mean = 49 yrs., s.d = 13.3). 92 and 67% participants of the HIV + ve and HIV-ve groups, respectively, presented with tooth wear. The mean tooth wear index was higher in HIV + ve patients than HIV-ve patients (8.2 vs. 7.8), however, this difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). A significant, positive correlation was found between HIV presence and tooth wear index, after accounting for age (B = 0.71, p < 0.05). The number of years on anti-retroviral therapy alone was positively correlated with tooth wear index (R
= 0.116, p < 0.05). After controlling for age, years of anti-retroviral therapy use was positively correlated with tooth wear index (B = 0.047, p > 0.05).
The findings from this study suggest that HIV + ve patients, who are on anti-retroviral therapy have significant tooth wear, although more studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm this. There is a critical need to initiate a dialogue with medical providers about tooth wear as a possible side effect of antiretroviral therapy and to introduce appropriate preventive measures.
We use 14 orbits of Advanced Camera for Surveys observations to reach the end of the white dwarf cooling sequence in the globular cluster M4. Our photometry and completeness tests show that the end ...is located at magnitude m F606W = 28.5 - 0.1, which implies an age of 11.6 - 0.6 Gyr (internal errors only). This is consistent with the age from fits to the main-sequence turnoff (12.0 - 1.4 Gyr).
We study the future orbital evolution and merging of the Milky Way (MW)-M31-M33 system, using a combination of collisionless N-body simulations and semi-analytic orbit integrations. Monte Carlo ...simulations are used to explore the consequences of varying all relevant initial phase-space and mass parameters within their observational uncertainties. The most likely outcome is for the MW and M31 to merge first, with M33 settling onto an orbit around them that may decay toward a merger later. The radial mass profile of the MW-M31 merger remnant is significantly more extended than the original profiles of either the MW or M31, and suggests that the merger remnant will resemble an elliptical galaxy. The Sun will most likely end up at a larger radius from the center of the MW-M31 merger remnant than its current distance from the MW center, possibly further than 50 kpc. The arrival and possible collision of M31 with the MW is the next major cosmic event affecting the environment of our Sun and solar system that can be predicted with some certainty.
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