King's College, Aberdeen

About: King's College, Aberdeen is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Poison control & Sedimentary depositional environment. The organization has 712 authors who have published 918 publications receiving 25421 citations. The organization is also known as: King's College, Aberdeen & The University and King's College of Aberdeen.

Raman spectroscopic analysis of cyanobacterial gypsum halotrophs and relevance for sulfate deposits on Mars

Abstract: The Raman spectra of cyanobacterial species, Gloecapsa and Nostoc, in clear gypsum crystals from the Haughton Crater, Devon Island, Canadian High Arctic, site of a meteorite impact during the Miocene some 23 Mya, have been recorded using several visible and near-infrared excitation wavelengths. The best spectra were obtained using a green wavelength at 514.5 nm and a confocal microscope with an image footprint of about 2 µ in diameter and 2 µ theoretical depth. Raman biosignatures for beta-carotene and scytonemin were obtained for one type of colony and parietin and beta-carotene for another; chlorophyll was detected in both types of colony. The different combination of these radiation protectant biomolecules suggests that the two cyanobacterial colonies, namely Nostoc and Gloecapsa, are adopting different survival strategies in the system. Confocal spectroscopic probing of the gypsum crystals exhibited sufficient discrimination for the identification of the biomolecules through the gypsum crystal, in simulation of the detection of extant or extinct halotrophs. This supports the viability of Raman spectroscopic techniques for incorporation as part of the instrumentation suite of a robotic lander for planetary surface exploration for the detection of organisms inside sulfate crystals from previous hydrothermal activity on Mars.

The effect of fibre dispersion on initial failure strain and cluster development in unidirectional carbon/glass hybrid composites

Abstract: By adding glass fibres to carbon fibre composites, the apparent failure strain of the carbon fibres can be increased. A strength model for unidirectional hybrid composites was developed under very local load sharing assumptions to study this hybrid effect. Firstly, it was shown that adding more glass fibres leads to higher hybrid effects. The hybrid effect was up to 32% for a hybrid composite with a 10/90 ratio of carbon/glass fibres. The development of clusters of broken fibres helped to explain differences in the performance of these hybrid composites. For 50/50 carbon/glass hybrids, a fine bundle-by-bundle dispersion led to a slightly smaller hybrid effect than for randomly dispersed hybrids. The highest hybrid effect for a 50/50 ratio, however, was 16% and was achieved in a composite with alternating single fibre layers. The results demonstrate that thin ply hybrids may have more potential for improved mechanical properties than comingled hybrids.

Detecting agency from the biological motion of veridical vs animated agents

Abstract: The ability to detect agency is fundamental for understanding the social world. Underlying this capacity are neural circuits that respond to patterns of intentional biological motion in the superior temporal sulcus and temporoparietal junction. Here we show that the brain's blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response to such motion is modulated by the representation of the actor. Dynamic social interactions were portrayed by either live-action agents or computer-animated agents, enacting the exact same patterns of biological motion. Using an event-related design, we found that the BOLD response associated with the perception and interpretation of agency was greater when identical physical movements were performed by real rather than animated agents. This finding has important implications for previous work on biological motion that has relied upon computer-animated stimuli and demonstrates that the neural substrates of social perception are finely tuned toward real-world agents. In addition, the response in lateral temporal areas was observed in the absence of instructions to make mental inferences, thus demonstrating the spontaneous implementation of the intentional stance.