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This paper presents a method for automated excavation speed and progress estimation. First, a measure for the progress speed of an excavation pit is taken from the literature and evaluated regarding the possibility for automation. For each possible parameter, an automated extraction algorithm is presented. The used system is an autonomous excavator arm of a backhoe loader where the used hardware and software system is described. Experimental evaluation of the presented approach has been done with the autonomous system for a small trench, including multiple digging cycles. The resulting measurements seem to include some systematic errors which could be identified and suitable sanity checks could be implemented, removing the erroneous measurements. The remaining measurements were used to determine the excavation speed of the autonomous excavator arm and compared to the values of experienced and amateur operators.

Pathological substance use disorders represent a major public health crisis with limited effective treatment options. While much work has been done to understand the neuronal signaling networks and intracellular signaling cascades associated with prolonged drug use, these studies have yielded few successful treatment options for substance use disorders. In recent years, there has been a growing interest to explore interactions between the peripheral immune system, the gut microbiome, and the CNS. In this review, we will present a summary of existing evidence, suggesting a potential role for gut dysbiosis in the pathogenesis of substance use disorders. Clinical evidence of gut dysbiosis in human subjects with substance use disorder and preclinical evidence of gut dysbiosis in animal models of drug addiction are discussed in detail. Additionally, we examine how changes in the gut microbiome and its metabolites may not only be a consequence of substance use disorders but may in fact play a role in mediating behavioral response to drugs of abuse. While much work still needs to be done, understanding the interplay of gut microbiome in substance use disorders may offer a promising avenue for future therapeutic development.

Molecular structure is usually determined by measuring the diffraction pattern the molecule impresses on x-rays or electrons. We used a laser field to extract electrons from the molecule itself, accelerate them, and in some cases force them to recollide with and diffract from the parent ion, all within a fraction of a laser period. Here, we show that the momentum distribution of the extracted electron carries the fingerprint of the highest occupied molecular orbital, whereas the elastically scattered electrons reveal the position of the nuclear components of the molecule. Thus, in one comprehensive technology, the photoelectrons give detailed information about the electronic orbital and the position of the nuclei.

Laser-driven electron recollision is at the heart of the rapidly growing field of attosecond science. The recollision wavepacket is qualitatively described within the strong-field approximation, which commonly assumes tunnelling ionization and plane-wave propagation of the liberated electron in the continuum. However, with increasing experimental sophistication, refinements to this simple model have become necessary. Through careful modelling and measurements of laser-induced recollision holography using aligned N 2 molecules, we demonstrate that the continuum electron wavepacket already carries a non-trivial spatial phase structure immediately following ionization. This effect is of rather general character: any molecule and any non-isotropic system that is ionized by a strong laser field will exhibit an offset in the phase of the continuum electron wavepacket. Specifically, this has important implications for any coherent scattering process in molecules, such as high-harmonic generation or laser-induced electron holography.

Recent evidence has demonstrated that the gut microbiome has marked effects on neuronal function and behavior. Disturbances to microbial populations within the gut have been linked to myriad models of neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the role of the microbiome in substance use disorders remains understudied. Here we show that male mice with their gut microbiome depleted by nonabsorbable antibiotics (Abx) exhibit decreased formation of morphine conditioned place preference across a range of doses (2.5–15 mg/kg), have decreased locomotor sensitization to morphine, and demonstrate marked changes in gene expression within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in response to high-dose morphine (20 mg/kg × 7 days). Replacement of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) metabolites, which are reduced by microbiome knockdown, reversed the behavioral and transcriptional effects of microbiome depletion. This identifies SCFA as the crucial mediators of microbiome–brain communication responsible for the effects on morphine reward caused by microbiome knockdown. These studies add important new behavioral, molecular, and mechanistic insight to the role of gut–brain signaling in substance use disorders.

\"I'm sure many of the women who came to the university in the '50s and '60s were asked at some time or another, 'Why are you coming here to get your degree if you are just going to get married and have chfldren?'\" [Susan Heinzelman] said. \"I think the joke was that women came here to get an MRS degree\" - to find a husband. \"So, yes, things are definitely changing, but it's slow. It's been very slow,\" Heinzelman said. \"It's taken years to get us in this position, and you can't change it overnight. It's going to be 10 years before we see the fuU results of what is happening. But at least we are moving in the right direction.\" \"We are a long long way from 1957,\" Heinzelman said. \"But now we know what needs to be done. That's a long way from where we were in the '50s.\"

Resident bacteria in the maternal gut are important for normal fetal brain development in mice. It emerges that this effect is driven by bacterially produced metabolite molecules that signal to the fetal brain. Metabolites made by bacteria signal to the developing mouse brain.

Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is associated with tremendous morbidity and mortality. Despite this burden, current pharmacotherapies for OUD are ineffective or intolerable for many patients. As such, interventions aimed at promoting resilience against OUD are of immense clinical interest. Treatment with a Bioactive Dietary Polyphenol Preparation (BDPP) promotes resilience and adaptive neuroplasticity in multiple models of neuropsychiatric disease. Here, we assessed effects of BDPP treatment on behavioral and molecular responses to repeated morphine treatment in male mice. BDPP pre-treatment alters responses for both locomotor sensitization and conditioned place preference. Most notably, polyphenol treatment consistently reduced formation of preference at low dose (5 mg/kg) morphine but enhanced it at high dose (15 mg/kg). In parallel, we performed transcriptomic profiling of the nucleus accumbens, which again showed a dose × polyphenol interaction. We also profiled microbiome composition and function, as polyphenols are metabolized by the microbiome and can act as prebiotics. The profile revealed polyphenol treatment markedly altered microbiome composition and function. Finally, we investigated involvement of the SIRT1 deacetylase, and the role of polyphenol metabolites in behavioral responses. These results demonstrate polyphenols have robust dose-dependent effects on behavioral and physiological responses to morphine and lay the foundation for future translational work.

The challenge now is to get the word out to high school counselors and senior students that UT-Austin has chosen to broaden its criteria to include race and ethnicity as factors in its highly competitive admissions process, and that the deadline to apply for the fall 2005 semester is Feb. 1, 2005, said Dr. Bruce Walker, vice provost and director of admissions. He said the new criteria will be used in consideration of all undergraduate, graduate and law school applications next fall semester. UT-Austin has not used race/ethnicity as a factor in the admissions process since 1996, when the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court, in the Hopwood case, issued a ruling prohibiting affirmative action. Enrollment of minority students declined after 1996 and race-neutral initiatives such as the Top Ten Percent Law helped to bring the numbers back to about the levels attained prior to the Hopwood ruling. The opportunity for the university to use race/ethnicity in admissions resulted from the U.S. Supreme Court June 2003 ruling in Grutter v. Bollinger (University of Michigan case), which determined its use is permissible if race-neutral alternatives are found to be ineffective or unworkable substitutes for race-conscious policies in enrolling a critical mass of minority students. The concept of critical mass, which is an adequate representation of minority students to assure educational benefits deriving from diversity, holds that all students benefit by learning that there is not one minority or majority view, but many. The court also recognized that critical mass is essential to avoid burdening individuals as \"spokespersons\" of their race or ethnicity.