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POEMMA Balloon with Radio (PBR) is a NASA super-pressure balloon mission building toward the proposed Probe Of Extreme Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (POEMMA) dual satellite mission. In its planned 2027 launch, PBR will study Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays, Neutrinos, and High-Altitude Horizontal Airshowers from 33 km above the Earth. By operating at balloon altitudes, PBR will provide a novel vantage point to study air-shower physics while offering competitive instantaneous exposure to neutrinos from transient astrophysical phenomena. The payload's optical instrument is a 0.95 m\\(^2\\) aperture hybrid Schmidt telescope with a 3.81 m\\(^2\\) segmented mirror focusing light onto a Fluorescence Camera and a bi-focalized Cherenkov Camera. The payload will also feature a Radio Instrument consisting of two sinuous antennas based on the Payload for Ultrahigh Energy Observations (PUEO) low-frequency instrument. A combined gamma ray/x-ray detector and IR cloud camera round out the instrumentation package, meaning PBR will be the first multi-hybrid balloon-borne multi-messenger observatory flown. This extensive instrumentation must be combined into a radio quiet payload that satisfies the scientific needs and can operate in near vacuum at extreme temperatures, all while meeting NASA safety requirements and weighing no more than 3000 lbs (1361 kg). Accomplishing these tasks together will mark a significant step toward establishing technological readiness for the POEMMA satellite mission. We present an overview of PBR's mechanical and optical systems, additionally detailing our strategies to mitigate electromagnetic interference for the radio instrument and prepare for the harsh near-space environment.

The KOTO II experiment is proposed to measure the branching ratio of the decay \\(K_L^0\\) at J-PARC. With a beamline to extract long-lived neutral kaons at 5 degrees from a production target, the single event sensitivity of the decay is \\(8.5 10^-13\\), which is much smaller than the Standard Model prediction \\(3 10^-11\\). This allows searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model and the first discovery of the decay with a significance exceeding \\(5\\). As the only experiment proposed in the world dedicated to rare kaon decays, KOTO II will be indispensable in the quest for a complete understanding of flavor dynamics in the quark sector. Moreover, by combining efforts from the kaon community worldwide, we plan to develop the KOTO II detector further and expand the physics reach of the experiment to include measurements of the branching ratio of the \\(K_L^0^+^-\\) decays, studies of other \\(K_L\\) decays, and searches for dark photons, axions, and axion-like particles. KOTO II will therefore obtain a comprehensive understanding of \\(K_L\\) decays, providing further constraints on new physics scenarios with existing \\(K^+\\) results.

We examine the inbreeding load for adult life span and mortality rates of two seed beetle species, Callosobruchus maculatus and Stator limbatus. Inbreeding load differs substantially between males and females in both study populations of C. maculatus—life span of inbred females was 9–13% shorter than the life span of outbred females, whereas the life span of inbred males did not differ from the life span of outbred males. The effect of inbreeding on female life span was largely due to an increase in the slope of the mortality curve. In contrast, inbreeding had only a small effect on the life span of S. limbatus—life spans of inbred beetles were ∼5% shorter than those of outbred beetles, and there was no difference in inbreeding load between the sexes. The inbreeding load for mean life span was ∼0.4–0.6 lethal equivalents per haploid gamete for female C. maculatus and ∼0.2–0.3 for both males and females of S. limbatus, all within the range of estimates commonly obtained for Drosophila. However, contrary to the predictions of mutation-accumulation models, inbreeding load for loci affecting mortality rates did not increase with age in either species, despite an effect of inbreeding on the initial rate of increase in mortality. This was because mortality rates decelerated with age and converged to a mortality plateau for both outbred and inbred beetles.

Fructose‐1,6‐bisphosphate (FBP) is a high‐energy glycolytic intermediate that decreases the effects of ischemia; it has been used successfully in organ perfusion and preservation. How the cells utilize external FBP to increase energy production and the mechanism by which the molecule crosses the membrane bilayer are unclear. This study examined the effects of FBP on membrane bilayer permeability, membrane fluidity, phospholipid packing, and membrane potential to determine how FBP crosses the membrane bilayer. Large unilamellar vesicles composed of egg phosphatidylcholine (Egg PC) were made and incubated with 50 mM FBP spiked with 14C‐FBP at 30°C. Uptake of FBP was significant (P<0.05) and dependent on the lipid concentration, suggesting that FBP affects membrane, bilayer permeability. With added calcium (10 mM), FBP uptake by lipid vesicles decreased significantly (P<0.05). Addition of either 5 or 50 mM FBP led to a significant increase (P<0.05) in Egg PC carboxyfluorescein leakage. We hypothesized that the membrane‐permeabilizing effects of FBP may be due to a destabilization of the membrane bilayer. Small unilamellar vesicles composed of dipalmitoyl pC (DPPC) were made containing either diphenyl‐1,3,5‐hexatriene (DPH) or trimethylammmonia‐DPH (TMA‐DPH) and the effects of FBP on the fluorescence anisotropy (FA) of the fluorescent labels examined. FBP caused a significant decrease in the FA of DPH in the liquid crystalline state of DPPC (P<0.05), had no effect on FA of TMA‐DPH in the liquid crystalline state of DPPC, but increased the FA of TMA‐DPH in the gel state of DPPC. From phase transition measurements with DPPC/DPH or TMA‐DPH, we calculated the slope of the phase transition as an indicator of the cooperativity of the DPPC molecules. FBP significantly decreased the slope, suggesting a decrease in fatty acyl chain interaction (P<0.05). The addition of 50 mM FBP caused a significant decrease (P<0.05) in the liquid crystalline/gel state fluorescence ratio of merocyanine 540, indicating increased head‐group packing. To determine what effects these changes would have on cellular membranes, we labeled human endothelial cells with the membrane potential probe 3,3′‐dipropylthiacarbocyanine iodide (DiSC3) and then added FBP. FBP caused a significant, dose‐dependent decrease in DiSC3 fluorescence, indicating membrane depolarization. We suggest that FBP destabilizes membrane bilayers by decreasing fatty acyl chain interaction, leading to significant increases in membrane permeability that allow FBP to diffuse into the cell where it can be used as a glycolytic intermediate.

Hydrophobia.--I promised yesterday to resume to-day the subject of Mad Dogs; but, if I had not, the case which I have just read from the Philadelphia papers, and which we republish this evening, would render some remarks at this time, on this awful and alarming topic, highly interesting and pertinent. This case is attested by two eminent physicians, and they add that hydrophobia \"is without the hope of a relief from medicine\"--\"we know of no cure for hydrophobia.

We now redeem our promise, by giving the statement of the case of James Cann, who was bitten by a mad dog, and cured by the plant called Scullcap, as drawn up and furnished us by his two physicians.