scholarly journals Characterization of a fiber-coupled EvenField illumination system for fluorescence microscopy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyla Berry ◽  
Mike Taormina ◽  
Zoe Maltzer ◽  
Kristen Turner ◽  
Melissa M Gorham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluorescence Microscopy ◽  
Laser Speckle ◽  
Speckle Reduction ◽  
Commercial Unit ◽  
The Public ◽  
Multimode Fibers ◽  
Illumination System ◽  
Added Benefit ◽  
Temporal Profiles

Fluorescence microscopy benefits from spatially and temporally homogeneous illumination with illumination area matched to the shape and size of the camera sensor. Fibercoupled illumination schemes have the added benefit of straightforward and robust alignment and ease of installation compared to free-space coupled illumination. Commercial and opensource fiber-coupled, homogenized illumination schemes have recently become available to the public; however, there have been no published comparisons of speckle reduction schemes to date. We characterize three different multimode fibers in combination with two laser speckle reduction devices and compare spatial and temporal profiles to a commercial unit. This work yields a new design, the EvenField Illuminator, which is freely available along for researchers to integrate into their own imaging systems.

Design, Modeling, and Characterization of a Microelectromechanical Diffuser Device for Laser Speckle Reduction

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thi-Kim-Trinh Tran ◽  
Sibi Subramaniam ◽  
Cuong-Phu Le ◽  
Sukhdeep Kaur ◽  
Stanislaw Kalicinski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Speckle ◽  
Speckle Reduction

scholarly journals Characterization of a fiber-coupled EvenField illumination system for fluorescence microscopy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Nicovich ◽  
Kyla Berry ◽  
Thuc Nguyen ◽  
Robert Serafin ◽  
Mike Taormina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fluorescence Microscopy ◽  
Illumination System

Facing the Challenge of Democracy

2011 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Knowledge ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Party Polarization

Citizens are political simpletons—that is only a modest exaggeration of a common characterization of voters. Certainly, there is no shortage of evidence of citizens' limited political knowledge, even about matters of the highest importance, along with inconsistencies in their thinking, some glaring by any standard. But this picture of citizens all too often approaches caricature. This book brings together leading political scientists who offer new insights into the political thinking of the public, the causes of party polarization, the motivations for political participation, and the paradoxical relationship between turnout and democratic representation. These studies propel a foundational argument about democracy. Voters can only do as well as the alternatives on offer. These alternatives are constrained by third players, in particular activists, interest groups, and financial contributors. The result: voters often appear to be shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent because the alternatives they must choose between are shortsighted, extreme, and inconsistent.

scholarly journals Development and characterization of probiotic mucilage based edible films for the preservation of fruits and vegetables

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Mohammad Davachi ◽  
Neethu Pottackal ◽  
Hooman Torabi ◽  
Alireza Abbaspourrad
Keyword(s):  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Uv Light ◽  
Barrier Properties ◽  
Edible Films ◽  
Food Preservation ◽  
Elongation At Break ◽  
The Public ◽  
Medical Benefits ◽  
Seed Mucilage

AbstractThere is growing interest among the public and scientific community toward the use of probiotics to potentially restore the composition of the gut microbiome. With the aim of preparing eco-friendly probiotic edible films, we explored the addition of probiotics to the seed mucilage films of quince, flax, and basil. These mucilages are natural and compatible blends of different polysaccharides that have demonstrated medical benefits. All three seed mucilage films exhibited high moisture retention regardless of the presence of probiotics, which is needed to help preserve the moisture/freshness of food. Films from flax and quince mucilage were found to be more thermally stable and mechanically robust with higher elastic moduli and elongation at break than basil mucilage films. These films effectively protected fruits against UV light, maintaining the probiotics viability and inactivation rate during storage. Coated fruits and vegetables retained their freshness longer than uncoated produce, while quince-based probiotic films showed the best mechanical, physical, morphological and bacterial viability. This is the first report of the development, characterization and production of 100% natural mucilage-based probiotic edible coatings with enhanced barrier properties for food preservation applications containing probiotics.

scholarly journals Transference of Citizen Science Program Impacts: A Theory Grounded in Public Participation in Scientific Research

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 339
Author(s):  
Louise I. Lynch-O’Brien ◽  
Wayne A. Babchuk ◽  
Jenny M. Dauer ◽  
Tiffany Heng-Moss ◽  
Doug Golick
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Social Process ◽  
Informal Science Education ◽  
Constructivist Grounded Theory ◽  
Science Program ◽  
Program Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Added Benefit

Citizen science is known for increasing the geographic, spatial, and temporal scale from which scientists can gather data. It is championed for its potential to provide experiential learning opportunities to the public. Documentation of educational outcomes and benefits for citizen scientists continues to grow. This study proposes an added benefit of these collaborations: the transference of program impacts to individuals outside of the program. The experiences of fifteen citizen scientists in entomology citizen science programs were analyzed using a constructivist grounded theory methodology. We propose the substantive-level theory of transference to describe the social process by which the educational and attitudinal impacts intended by program leaders for the program participants are filtered by citizen scientists and transferred to others. This process involves individual and external phases, each with associated actions. Transference occurred in participants who had maintained a long-term interest in nature, joined a citizen science program, shared science knowledge and experiences, acquired an expert role to others, and influenced change in others. Transference has implications for how citizen scientists are perceived by professional communities, understanding of the broader impacts and contributions of citizen science to wicked problems, program evaluation, and the design of these programs as informal science education opportunities.

scholarly journals A New Breeding Strategy towards Introgression and Characterization of Stay-Green QTL for Drought Tolerance in Sorghum

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 598
Author(s):  
Nasrein Mohamed Kamal ◽  
Yasir Serag Alnor Gorafi ◽  
Hanan Abdeltwab ◽  
Ishtiag Abdalla ◽  
Hisashi Tsujimoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Expression ◽  
Phenotypic Selection ◽  
Breeding Strategy ◽  
Stay Green ◽  
Breeding Programs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Drought Tolerant ◽  
Selection Step ◽  
The Cost

Several marker-assisted selection (MAS) or backcrossing (MAB) approaches exist for polygenic trait improvement. However, the implementation of MAB remains a challenge in many breeding programs, especially in the public sector. In MAB introgression programs, which usually do not include phenotypic selection, undesired donor traits may unexpectedly turn up regardless of how expensive and theoretically powerful a backcross scheme may be. Therefore, combining genotyping and phenotyping during selection will improve understanding of QTL interactions with the environment, especially for minor alleles that maximize the phenotypic expression of the traits. Here, we describe the introgression of stay-green QTL (Stg1–Stg4) from B35 into two sorghum backgrounds through an MAB that combines genotypic and phenotypic (C-MAB) selection during early backcross cycles. The background selection step is excluded. Since it is necessary to decrease further the cost associated with molecular marker assays, the costs of C-MAB were estimated. Lines with stay-green trait and good performance were identified at an early backcross generation, backcross two (BC2). Developed BC2F4 lines were evaluated under irrigated and drought as well as three rainfed environments varied in drought timing and severity. Under drought conditions, the mean grain yield of the most C-MAB-introgression lines was consistently higher than that of the recurrent parents. This study is one of the real applications of the successful use of C-MAB for the development of drought-tolerant sorghum lines for drought-prone areas.

Laser speckle reduction by a hybrid MEMS diffuser device with continuous height profile

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 2561-2568
Author(s):  
Qiaoming You ◽  
Dayong Qiao ◽  
Xiumin Song ◽  
Changfeng Xia ◽  
Yanan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Laser Speckle ◽  
Speckle Reduction ◽  
Height Profile

scholarly journals Detection and characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.526 in New York

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony P. West ◽  
Joel O. Wertheim ◽  
Jade C. Wang ◽  
Tetyana I. Vasylyeva ◽  
Jennifer L. Havens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Viral Evolution ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Neutralization Titer ◽  
The Public ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Health Relevance ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Variant Database

AbstractWide-scale SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing is critical to tracking viral evolution during the ongoing pandemic. We develop the software tool, Variant Database (VDB), for quickly examining the changing landscape of spike mutations. Using VDB, we detect an emerging lineage of SARS-CoV-2 in the New York region that shares mutations with previously reported variants. The most common sets of spike mutations in this lineage (now designated as B.1.526) are L5F, T95I, D253G, E484K or S477N, D614G, and A701V. This lineage was first sequenced in late November 2020. Phylodynamic inference confirmed the rapid growth of the B.1.526 lineage. In concert with other variants, like B.1.1.7, the rise of B.1.526 appears to have extended the duration of the second wave of COVID-19 cases in NYC in early 2021. Pseudovirus neutralization experiments demonstrated that B.1.526 spike mutations adversely affect the neutralization titer of convalescent and vaccinee plasma, supporting the public health relevance of this lineage.

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