Birthdates of patients affected by mental illness and solar activity: A study from Italy

Purpose

This epidemiologic study tested an hypothesized association between the year of birth of persons with major mental illnesses and solar activity over the past century.

Methods

We collected data on diagnoses and birthdates of psychiatric patients born between 1926 and 1975 (N = 1954) in south Italy for comparison to yearly solar activity as registered by the International Observatories.

Results

We found a strong inverse correlation between high solar activity (HSA) and incidence of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in a 20-year period whereas the incidence of non-affective/non-psychotic disorders was moderately associated with HSA in the same period.

Conclusions

Interpretation of the observed correlations between HSA during years of birth and the incidence of mental illnesses remains unclear, but the findings encourage further study.     

高能束流焊接技术现状及发展

高能束流(High Energy Density Beam)加工技术包含了以激光束、电 子束和等离子弧为热源对材料或构件进行特种加工的各类工艺方法.高能束流焊(或高能密度焊)是指焊接功率密度比通常的氩弧焊(TIG、MIG)或CO2气体保护焊高的一类焊接方法.严格地讲,焊接能量和焊接功率密度是2个不同的概念,但二者具有相关性.     

Microbial life in a liquid asphalt desert

Pitch Lake in Trinidad and Tobago is a natural asphalt reservoir nourished by pitch seepage, a form of petroleum that consists of mostly asphaltines, from the surrounding oil-rich region. During upward seepage, pitch mixes with mud and gases under high pressure, and the lighter portion evaporates or is volatilized, which produces a liquid asphalt residue characterized by low water activity, recalcitrant carbon substrates, and noxious chemical compounds. An active microbial community of archaea and bacteria, many of them novel strains (particularly from the new Tar ARC groups), totaling a biomass of up to 10(7) cells per gram, was found to inhabit the liquid hydrocarbon matrix of Pitch Lake. Geochemical and molecular taxonomic approaches revealed diverse, novel, and deeply branching microbial lineages with the potential to mediate anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation processes in different parts of the asphalt column. In addition, we found markers for archaeal methane metabolism and specific gene sequences affiliated with facultative and obligate anaerobic sulfur- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. The microbial diversity at Pitch Lake was found to be unique when compared to microbial communities analyzed at other hydrocarbon-rich environments, which included Rancho Le Brea, a natural asphalt environment in California, USA, and an oil well and a mud volcano in Trinidad and Tobago, among other sites. These results open a window into the microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of recalcitrant hydrocarbon matrices and establish the site as a terrestrial analogue for modeling the biotic potential of hydrocarbon lakes such as those found on Saturn's largest moon Titan.     

Survival of Deinococcus radiodurans against laboratory-simulated solar wind charged particles

In this experimental study, cells of the radiation-resistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans were exposed to several different sources of radiation chosen to replicate the charged particles found in the solar wind. Naked cells or cells mixed with dust grains (basalt or sandstone) differing in elemental composition were exposed to electrons, protons, and ions to determine the probability of cell survival after irradiation. Doses necessary to reduce the viability of cell population to 10% (LD(10)) were determined under different experimental conditions. The results of this study indicate that low-energy particle radiation (2-4?keV), typically present in the slow component of the solar wind, had no effect on dehydrated cells, even if exposed at fluences only reached in more than 1000 years at Sun-Earth distance (1 AU). Higher-energy ions (200?keV) found in solar flares would inactivate 90% of exposed cells after several events in less than 1 year at 1 AU. When mixed with dust grains, LD(10) increases about 10-fold. These results show that, compared to the highly deleterious effects of UV radiation, solar wind charged particles are relatively benign, and organisms protected under grains from UV radiation would also be protected from the charged particles considered in this study.     

The planetary–exoplanetary environment: A nonlinear perspective

A review of the fundamental physical processes in the planetary–exoplanetary environment is presented, with emphasis on nonlinear phenomena. First, we discuss briefly the detection of exoplanets and search for radio emissions from exoplanets. Next, we give an overview of the concepts of waves, instabilities, chaos and turbulence in the planetary–exoplanetary environment based on our present knowledge of the solar-terrestrial environment. We conclude by discussing cyclotron masers and chaos in nonthermal radio emissions in the planetary–exoplanetary environment.     

微波等离子推进器的原理与应用研究

简要介绍了空间动力装置的分类及其特点，重点分析和讨论新型空间动力装置－微波等离子推进器（ＭＰＴ）的基本原理，结构特征和应用前景。分析现有理论与实验研究结果后认为，ＭＰＴ是一种高比冲，长寿命的小推力动力装置，特别适合用作空间动力，进行航天器的轨道转移，姿态控制，位置保持，对接交会和星际航行，尽管目前ＭＰＴ仍处于理论探索与实验研究阶段，但研究结果表明，它是前景十分诱人的新型空间动力系统。     

Mapping orbits with low station keeping costs for constellations of satellites based on the integral over the time of the perturbing forces

The present paper is concerned with the search for orbits that have potential to require low fuel consumption for station-keeping maneuvers for constellations of satellites. The method used to study this problem is based on the integral over the time of the undesired perturbing forces. This integral measures the change of velocity caused by the perturbation forces acting on the satellite, so mapping orbits that are less perturbed, which generates good candidates for orbits that requires low fuel consumption for station-keeping maneuvers. The integral over the time depends only on the orbit of the spacecraft and the dynamical system considered. The type of engine and the control technique applied to the spacecraft are not considered to search for those orbits. It can be a good strategy to be applied for a first mapping of orbits. For this search, it is analyzed the integral of orbits with different values of the Keplerian elements in order to find the best ones with respect to this criterion. The perturbations considered are the ones caused by the third body, which includes the Sun and the Moon, and the J₂ term of the geopotential. The results presented here show numerical simulations to obtain the integral of those perturbing forces for different orbits. The GPS and the Molniya constellations are used as examples for those calculations.     

The role of gravity in the evolutionary emergence of multicellular complexity: Microgravity effects on arthropod development and aging

While experiments carried out in Space with isolated cells have shown that eucaryotic cells are able to sense and respond to the absence of gravity by modifying their reactions, experiments in which more complex processes have been investigated, such as Biological Systems undergoing development under Microgravity, have been surprisingly unaffected by the space environment. This can be considered a curious result since all organisms are evolutionarily adapted to the current level of the gravity force in our planet and should eventually change if this parameter will vary in a permanent manner. In fact, the small effects of the modifications in gravity on development in short term experiments may be equivalent to the difficulties in detecting the involvement of other basic physical processes such as diffusion-controled auto-organizative reactions in currently developing biological systems. An apparent exception to this lack of effect is experiments where brine shrimp dormant gastrulae directly exposed to the space environment accumulate developmental defects as a consequence of cosmic irradiation. In this article we discuss the idea that at a certain stage during the evolutionary emergence of multicellular organisms the cues laid by generic forces such as gravity were involved in the evolutionary organization of these primitive organisms. As evolution proceed, these early mechanisms may have been obscured and/or made redundant by the appearance of new internal, environment-independent biological regulatory mechanisms. On the other hand, behavioral responses that may be important, for example, in setting the life-spans of organisms may still be more readily susceptible to manipulation by external cues as experiments carried out by our group in Space and on the ground with Drosophila melanogaster indicate.     

铝锂合金研究进展及发展趋势

铝锂合金历经三代发展,形成了完善的材料谱系,具有高比强度、高比韧度、高耐损伤的特点,是一种具有替代传统铝合金潜力,高减重效益的轻质合金,被认为是21世纪飞行器和舰船理想的结构材料。本文回顾了铝锂合金的发展历程,介绍了铝锂合金的成分设计思路、主要制备方法、先进应用技术等方面的研究进展,梳理了铝锂合金的发展趋势,指出成本较高是制约铝锂合金进一步大规模应用的主要问题,提出完善铝锂合金产品类型,开展抗疲劳、耐损伤、低密度铝锂合金研制,研究铝锂合金大型零件的整体制造技术,开发开展铝锂合金时效成形技术,激光焊、搅拌摩擦焊等先进连接技术等应用研究方向。     

Turboshaft engine air particle separation

This contribution addresses air particle separation technologies (EAPS) used for helicopter turboshaft engines that operate around unprepared airfields. Three key technologies are discussed. These are: vortex tube separators, inertial particle separators and inlet barrier filters. Some of these technologies are retrofitted or designed around specified airframes; other ones are an integral part of the turboshaft inlet design. For the vortex tubes, a complete review of the current intellectual property is reviewed, and a first-order theoretical model is presented to corroborate the performance of this technology. The inertial particle separators are designed as part of the engine inlets. This technology is more amenable to computational fluid dynamic modelling, coupled with particle dynamics and rebound effects. The inlet barrier filters are part of a large category of filtration systems. A first-order filter theory is derived to predict filter performance as a function of key parameters and useful operation time. The integration of the various EAPS with the helicopter system are discussed.