Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a pathogenic nematode and the cause of neuroangiostrongyliasis, an eosinophilic meningitis more commonly known as rat lungworm disease. Transmission is thought to be primarily due to ingestion of infective third stage larvae (L3) in gastropods, on produce, or in contaminated water. The gold standard to determine the effects of physical and chemical treatments on the infectivity of A. cantonensis L3 larvae is to infect rodents with treated L3 larvae and monitor for infection, but animal studies are laborious and expensive and also raise ethical concerns. This study demonstrates propidium iodide (PI) to be a reliable marker of parasite death and loss of infective potential without adversely affecting the development and future reproduction of live A. cantonensis larvae. PI staining allows evaluation of the efficacy of test substances in vitro, an improvement upon the use of lack of motility as an indicator of death. Some potential applications of this assay include determining the effectiveness of various anthelmintics, vegetable washes, electromagnetic radiation and other treatments intended to kill larvae in the prevention and treatment of neuroangiostrongyliasis.

We present a highly detailed study of calving dynamics at Tunabreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. A time-lapse camera was trained on the terminus and programmed to capture images every 3 seconds over a 28-hour period in August 2015, producing a highly detailed record of 34 117 images from which 358 individual calving events were distinguished. Calving activity is characterised by frequent events (12.8 events h−1) that are small relative to the spectrum of calving events observed, demonstrating the prevalence of small-scale calving mechanisms. Five calving styles were observed, with a high proportion of calving events (82%) originating at, or above, the waterline. The tidal cycle plays a key role in the timing of calving events, with 68% occurring on the falling limb of the tide. Calving activity is concentrated where meltwater plumes surface at the glacier front, and a ~ 5 m undercut at the base of the glacier suggests that meltwater plumes encourage melt-under-cutting. We conclude that frontal ablation at Tunabreen may be paced by submarine melt rates, as suggested from similar observations at glaciers in Svalbard and Alaska. Using submarine melt rate to calculate frontal ablation would greatly simplify estimations of tidewater glacier losses in prognostic models.

Strong strain-mediated magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in magnetic/ferroelectric heterostructures has great potential for different high-frequency multiferroic devices. In this article, we present the most recent progress in integrated multiferroic devices. Integrated magnetic tunable inductors with a wide operation frequency range, integrated nonreciprocal bandpass filters with dual magnetic and electric-field tunability based on magnetostatics surface waves, and novel radio-frequency nanomechanical ME resonators with pico-Tesla sensitivity for direct current magnetic fields are presented. Finally, a new antenna miniaturization mechanism, acoustically actuated nanomechanical ME antennas, which can successfully miniaturize the size by 1–2 orders, is introduced. With the advantages of high magnetic field sensitivity, highest antenna gain among all nanoscale antennas at similar frequency, integrated capability with complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology, and ground-plane immunity from metallic surfaces and the human body, ME antennas have a bright future for biomedical applications, wearable antennas, and the Internet of Things due to their unique and particular properties.

The properties of the acoustic modes are sensitive to magnetic activity. The unprecedented long-term Kepler photometry, thus, allows stellar magnetic cycles to be studied through asteroseismology. We search for signatures of magnetic cycles in the seismic data of Kepler solar-type stars. We find evidence for periodic variations in the acoustic properties of about half of the 87 analysed stars. In these proceedings, we highlight the results obtained for two such stars, namely KIC 8006161 and KIC 5184732.

Introduction: Resuscitation is a dynamic, complex and time-sensitive field which encompasses management of both critically-ill patients as well as large multidisciplinary teams. Expertise in this area has not been adequately defined, and to date, no research has directly examined the decision-making and cognitive processes involved. The evolving paradigm of competency-based medical education (CBME) makes better defining expertise in this field of critical importance to aid in the development of both educational and assessment methods. The technique of cognitive task analysis (CTA) has been used in a variety of fields to explicate the cognitive underpinnings of experts. Experts, however, often have limited insight and incomplete recall of their decision-making processes. We hypothesized that the use of eye-tracking, which provides the combination of first-person video as well as an overlying gaze indicator, could be used to enhance CTA to better understand the defining characteristics of experts in resuscitation. Methods: Over an 18-month period a sample of 11 traumatic resuscitations were obtained, each led by one of four pre-selected expert physicians outfitted with the Tobii Pro Eye-Tracking Glasses. After each resuscitation, the participant was debriefed using a cued-recall, think-aloud protocol while watching his or her corresponding eye-tracking video. A subsequent qualitative analysis of the resulting video and debrief transcript was performed using an ethnographic approach to establish emerging themes and behaviours of the expert physicians. Results: The expert participants demonstrated specific, common patterns in their cognitive processes. In particular, participants exhibited similar anticipatory and visual behaviours, dynamic communication strategies and the ability to distinguish between task-relevant and task-redundant information. All participants reported that this technique uncovered otherwise subconscious aspects of their cognition. Conclusion: The novel combination of eye-tracking technology to supplement the CTA of expert resuscitationists enriched our understanding of expertise in this field and yielded specific findings that can be applied to better develop and assess resuscitation skills.

The Medium-l Program of the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on board SOHO provides continuous observations of oscillation modes of angular degree, l, from 0 to ∼ 300. The initial results show that the noise in the Medium-l oscillation power spectrum is substantially lower than in ground-based measurements. This enables us to detect lower amplitude modes and, thus, to extend the range of measured mode frequencies. The MDI observations also reveal the asymmetry of oscillation spectral lines. The line asymmetries agree with the theory of mode excitation by acoustic sources localized in the upper convective boundary layer. The sound-speed profile inferred from the mean frequencies gives evidence for a sharp variation at the edge of the energy-generating core. In a thin layer just beneath the convection zone, helium appears to be less abundant than predicted by theory. Inverting the multiplet frequency splittings from MDI, we detect significant rotational shear in this thin layer.

Helioseismic measurements with the MDI instrument aboard SOHO, and complementary measurements from the GONG network, are revealing changes deep within the Sun as the solar cycle progresses. We present results based on recent data from both experiments, including variations in the rotation rate deep inside the convection zone.

Introduction: Crisis decision-making is an important responsibility of the resuscitation team leader but a difficult process to study. The purpose of this study was to evaluate visual and behavioural differences between team leaders with different objective performance scores using gaze-tracking technology. Methods: Twenty-eight emergency medicine residents in different stages of training completed four simulated resuscitation scenarios. Participants wore gaze-tracking glasses during each station. An outside expert blinded to participant training level assessed performances using a validated assessment tool for simulation scenarios. Several visual endpoints were measured, including time, frequency, order, and latency to observation of task-relevant and task-redundant items. Non-visual endpoints included behaviours such as summarizing, verbalizing concerns, and calling for definitive treatments, among others. Results: Preliminary findings suggest significant differences between high and low performers. High performers check vitals signs faster, and look at patients and vital signs more often than low performers. Low-performing leaders display a more fixed gaze when starting a scenario. Lastly, high performers summarize, verbalize concerns, predict and prepare for future steps, and call for definitive treatment more often than low performers. Conclusion: There are significant differences between high and low-performing resuscitation team leaders in terms of their visual and behavioural patterns. These differences identify potential focus points for competency evaluations, and may direct educational interventions that could facilitate more efficient development of expertise. The potential to study crisis decision-making behaviours and performances using the methods and metrics identified, both in simulated and real-world settings, is substantial.

Terrestrial time-lapse photography offers insight into glacial processes through high spatial and temporal resolution imagery. However, oblique camera views complicate measurement in geographic coordinates, and lead to reliance on specific imaging geometries or simplifying assumptions for calculating parameters such as ice velocity. We develop a novel approach that integrates time-lapse imagery with multitemporal DEMs to derive full three-dimensional coordinates for natural features tracked throughout a monoscopic image sequence. This enables daily independent measurement of horizontal (ice flow) and vertical (ice melt) velocities. By combining two terrestrial laser scanner surveys with a 73 days sequence from Sólheimajökull, Iceland, variations in horizontal ice velocity of ~10% were identified over timescales of ~25 days. An overall decrease of ~3.0 m surface elevation showed asynchronous rate changes with the horizontal velocity variations, demonstrating a temporal disconnect between the processes of ice surface lowering and mechanisms of glacier movement. Our software, ‘Pointcatcher’, is freely available for user-friendly interactive processing of general time-lapse sequences and includes Monte Carlo error analysis and uncertainty in projection onto DEM surfaces. It is particularly suited for analysis of challenging oblique glacial imagery, and we discuss good features to track, both for correction of camera motion and for deriving ice velocities.