A young source of optical emission from distant radio galaxies.

PubMed

Hammer, F; Fèvre, O Le; Angonin, M C

1993-03-25

DISTANT radio galaxies provide valuable insights into the properties of the young Universe-they are the only known extended optical sources at high redshift and might represent an early stage in the formation and evolution of galaxies in general. This extended optical emission often has very complex morphologies, but the origin of the light is still unclear. Here we report spectroscopic observations for several distant radio galaxies (0.75≤ z ≤ 1.1) in which the rest-frame spectra exhibit featureless continua between 2,500 Å and 5,000 Å. We see no evidence for the break in the spectrum at 4,000 Å expected for an old stellar population 1-3 , and suggest that young stars or scattered emissions from the active nuclei are responsible for most of the observed light. In either case, this implies that the source of the optical emission is com-parable in age to the associated radio source, namely 10 7 years or less.

Developmental gene regulatory network architecture across 500 million years of echinoderm evolution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hinman, Veronica F.; Nguyen, Albert T.; Cameron, R. Andrew; Davidson, Eric H.

2003-01-01

Evolutionary change in morphological features must depend on architectural reorganization of developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs), just as true conservation of morphological features must imply retention of ancestral developmental GRN features. Key elements of the provisional GRN for embryonic endomesoderm development in the sea urchin are here compared with those operating in embryos of a distantly related echinoderm, a starfish. These animals diverged from their common ancestor 520-480 million years ago. Their endomesodermal fate maps are similar, except that sea urchins generate a skeletogenic cell lineage that produces a prominent skeleton lacking entirely in starfish larvae. A relevant set of regulatory genes was isolated from the starfish Asterina miniata, their expression patterns determined, and effects on the other genes of perturbing the expression of each were demonstrated. A three-gene feedback loop that is a fundamental feature of the sea urchin GRN for endoderm specification is found in almost identical form in the starfish: a detailed element of GRN architecture has been retained since the Cambrian Period in both echinoderm lineages. The significance of this retention is highlighted by the observation of numerous specific differences in the GRN connections as well. A regulatory gene used to drive skeletogenesis in the sea urchin is used entirely differently in the starfish, where it responds to endomesodermal inputs that do not affect it in the sea urchin embryo. Evolutionary changes in the GRNs since divergence are limited sharply to certain cis-regulatory elements, whereas others have persisted unaltered.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Galaxy Showing Key Evidence For Furious Star Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-12-01

associated with regions of active star formation. What is different about the Cloverleaf is the huge quantity of dense gas along with very powerful infrared radiation from the star formation. Ten billion times the mass of the Sun is contained in dense, star-forming gas clouds. "At the rate this galaxy is seen to be forming stars, that dense gas will be used up in only about 10 million years," Solomon said. In addition to giving astronomers a fascinating glimpse of a huge burst of star formation in the early Universe, the new information about the Cloverleaf helps answer a longstanding question about bright galaxies of that era. Many distant galaxies have supermassive black holes at their cores, and those black holes power "central engines" that produce bright emission. Astronomers have wondered specifically about those distant galaxies that emit large amounts of infrared light, galaxies like the Cloverleaf which has a black hole and central engine. "Is this bright infrared light caused by the black-hole-powered core of the galaxy or by a huge burst of star formation? That has been the question. Now we know that, in at least one case, much of the infrared light is produced by intense star formation," Carilli said. The rapid star formation, called a starburst, and the black hole are both generating the bright infrared light in the Cloverleaf. The starburst is a major event in the formation and evolution of this galaxy. "This detection of HCN gives us a unique new window through which we can study star formation in the early Universe," Carilli said. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Identification of 180 million years old, probably unchanged melanine

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Beyermann, K.; Hasenmaier, D.

1977-01-01

The comparison of the infrared spectra of recent sepia melanine and of the content of the ink sac of fossilized cuttlefish indicates that the 180 million years old substance is unchanged melanine. Both substances behave identically on heating. Other procedures for identification of melanine are surveyed critically.

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years.

PubMed

Liow, Lee Hsiang; Di Martino, Emanuela; Krzeminska, Malgorzata; Ramsfjell, Mali; Rust, Seabourne; Taylor, Paul D; Voje, Kjetil L

2017-08-01

Competition is an important biotic interaction that influences survival and reproduction. While competition on ecological timescales has received great attention, little is known about competition on evolutionary timescales. Do competitive abilities change over hundreds of thousands to millions of years? Can we predict competitive outcomes using phenotypic traits? How much do traits that confer competitive advantage and competitive outcomes change? Here we show, using communities of encrusting marine bryozoans spanning more than 2 million years, that size is a significant determinant of overgrowth outcomes: colonies with larger zooids tend to overgrow colonies with smaller zooids. We also detected temporally coordinated changes in average zooid sizes, suggesting that different species responded to a common external driver. Although species-specific average zooid sizes change over evolutionary timescales, species-specific competitive abilities seem relatively stable, suggesting that traits other than zooid size also control overgrowth outcomes and/or that evolutionary constraints are involved. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

The 13 million year Cenozoic pulse of the Earth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jiasheng; Kravchinsky, Vadim A.; Liu, Xiuming

2015-12-01

The geomagnetic polarity reversal rate changes radically from very low to extremely high. Such process indicates fundamental changes in the Earth's core reorganization and core-mantle boundary heat flow fluctuations. However, we still do not know how critical such changes are to surface geology and climate processes. Our analysis of the geomagnetic reversal frequency, oxygen isotope record, and tectonic plate subduction rate, which are indicators of the changes in the heat flux at the core mantle boundary, climate and plate tectonic activity, shows that all these changes indicate similar rhythms on million years' timescale in the Cenozoic Era occurring with the common fundamental periodicity of ∼13 Myr during most of the time. The periodicity is disrupted only during the last 20 Myr. Such periodic behavior suggests that large scale climate and tectonic changes at the Earth's surface are closely connected with the million year timescale cyclical reorganization of the Earth's interior.

IODP Site 1476: 7.5 Million Year Record of Southeast African Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cantu, K.; Norris, R. D.

2017-12-01

The primary focus of IODP Expedition 361 was Southeast African Climate. Site 1476 in the northern Mozambique Channel yielded a sediment record going back roughly 7.6 million years, a time frame particularly interesting due to its relevance to hominid evolution. Previous paleoclimate studies from the region have included lake sediments and soil carbonate isotopes, which have been interpreted as showing a long-term trend toward increasing aridity. Lake Malawi records from the last 1.3 million years show a change during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) from high frequency variability and generally lower lake levels to higher amplitude variability and higher lake levels punctuated by long, severe droughts resulting in extreme and long-lasting low-stands. Site 1476 cores were scanned using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), which gives semi-quantitative elemental abundances. Elemental abundance ratios are used as proxies for a variety of climate-related signals, such as changes in weathering rates, the nature of terrigenous material, and grain size. Looking at the site's Fe/Ca, K/Ca, and Rb/Zr ratios, the period of 4.5 to about 1.5 million years ago shows higher terrigenous flux, higher clay flux, and a smaller grain size respectively than most of the previous 3 million years, followed by a steep decline before the MPT, before transitioning to a pattern of high amplitude oscillations post-MPT. These higher amplitude oscillations seem to correspond to Lake Malawi low stands in the post-MPT period, suggesting that the higher flux of terrigenous material to site 1476 is due to higher aridity resulting in lower vegetative cover. This data also point to high climate variability in the last million years, likely contributing to the evolution and ecological adaptability of our species.

Extensive 200-million-year-Old continental flood basalts of the central atlantic magmatic province

PubMed

Marzoli; Renne; Piccirillo; Ernesto; Bellieni; De Min A

1999-04-23

The Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) is defined by tholeiitic basalts that crop out in once-contiguous parts of North America, Europe, Africa, and South America and is associated with the breakup of Pangea. 40Ar/39Ar and paleomagnetic data indicate that CAMP magmatism extended over an area of 2.5 million square kilometers in north and central Brazil, and the total aerial extent of the magmatism exceeded 7 million square kilometers in a few million years, with peak activity at 200 million years ago. The magmatism coincided closely in time with a major mass extinction at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.

The Green Chair Group. Predicting Distant Education in the Year 2001. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Home Study Council, Washington, DC.

In a series of three workshops in 1981, a group of experienced home study educators, education technologists, and informed people from state and federal government, private industry, and trade associations tackled the questions, "What lies ahead in home study, for 'distant education,' in the next 20 years? How should educators plan for the…

Light Sources and Lighting Circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Honda, Hisashi; Suwa, Takumi; Yasuda, Takeo; Ohtani, Yoshihiko; Maehara, Akiyoshi; Okada, Atsunori; Komatsu, Naoki; Mannami, Tomoaki

According to the Machinery Statistics of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the production of incandescent lamps in Japan in 2007 was 990 million units (90.0% of the previous year's total), in which the production of incandescent lamps for general lighting was 110 million units (90.0% of the previous year's total) and of tungsten-halogen lamps was 44 million units (96.6% of the previous year's total). The production of fluorescent lamps was 927 million units (93.9% of the previous year's total), in which general fluorescent lamps, excluding those for LCD back lighting, was 320 million units (87.2% of the previous year's total). Also, the production of HID lamps was 10 million units (101.5% of the previous year's total). On the other hand, when the numbers of sales are compared with the sales of the previous year, incandescent lamps for general use was 99.8%, tungsten-halogen lamps was 96.9%, fluorescent lamps was 95.9%, and HID lamps was 98.9%. Self-ballasted fluorescent lamps alone showed an increase in sales as strong as 29 million units, or 121.7% of the previous year's sales. It is considered that the switchover of incandescent lamps to HID lamps was promoted for energy conservation and carbon dioxide reduction with the problem of global warming in the background. In regard to exhibitions, Lighting Fair 2007 was held in Tokyo in March, and LIGHTFAIR INTERNATIONAL 2007 was held in New York in May. Regarding academic conferences, LS:11 (the 11th International Symposium on the Science & Technology of Light Sources) was held in Shanghai in May, and the First International Conference on White LEDs and Solid State Lighting was held in Tokyo in November. Both conferences suggested that there are strong needs and concerns now about energy conservation, saving natural resources, and restrictions of hazardous materials. In regard to incandescent lamps, the development of products aiming at higher efficacy, electric power savings, and longer life was advanced by

Distant Moons

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-08-15

Saturn's moons Tethys and Hyperion appear to be near neighbors in this Cassini view, even though they are actually 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) apart here. Tethys is the larger body on the left. These two icy moons of Saturn are very different worlds. To learn more about Hyperion (170 miles or 270 kilometers across). This view looks toward the trailing side of Tethys. North on Tethys is up and rotated 1 degree to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 15, 2015. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Tethys. Image scale is 4.4 miles (7.0 kilometers) per pixel. The distance to Hyperion was 1.7 million miles (2.7 million kilometers) with an image scale of 10 mile (16 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20493

Relationship Between Vehicle Size and Fatality Risk in Model Year 1985-93 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-01-01

Fatality rates per million exposure years are computed by make, model and model year, : based on the crash experience of model year 1985-93 passenger cars and light trucks (pickups) vans : and sport utility vehicles) in the United States during calen...

The Light and Dark Sides of a Distant Planet

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-10-12

The top graph consists of infrared data from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. It tells astronomers that a distant planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, always has a giant hot spot on the side that faces the star, while the other side is cold and dark.

Comet Halley passes the halfway mark. Very distant image obtained with the ESO NTT.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1994-02-01

Eight years after the passage of Comet Halley in early 1986, astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have succeeded in obtaining an image [1] of this famous object at a distance of no less than 2,820 million km from the Sun. The comet is now about as far away as giant planet Uranus. It recently passed the halfway mark towards the most distant point of its very elongated 76-year orbit. The image shows the 6 x 15 km avocado-shaped nucleus as an extremely faint point of light without any surrounding dust cloud. It appears that the surface is now completely frozen and the comet has ceased to emit dust and gas. This observation was made with the ESO 3.58 metre New Technology Telescope (NTT). It is by far the faintest and most distant image ever recorded of this comet. A DIFFICULT OBSERVATION The new Halley image was obtained in the course of an observational programme by a small group of astronomers [2], aimed at the investigation of distant solar system objects. The observation was difficult to perform and is close to the limit of what is possible, even with the NTT, one of the technologically most advanced astronomical telescopes. In fact, this observation may be compared to viewing a black golfball, used during a late evening game, from a distance of 12,000 km. At Halley's present, very large distance from the Sun, the intensity of the solar light is over 350 times fainter than here on Earth. The surface of the cometary nucleus is very dark; it reflects only 4 % of the infalling sunlight. The amount of light received from Halley is therefore extremely small: the recorded star-like image of the nucleus is about 160 million times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye. A long exposure was needed to catch enough light to show the object; even with the very sensitive SuSI CCD camera at the NTT, the shutter had to be kept open for a total of 3 hours 45 minutes. During this time, of the order of 9000 photons from Comet Halley were

Conserved Noncoding Elements in the Most Distant Genera of Cephalochordates: The Goldilocks Principle

PubMed Central

Yue, Jia-Xing; Kozmikova, Iryna; Ono, Hiroki; Nossa, Carlos W.; Kozmik, Zbynek; Putnam, Nicholas H.; Yu, Jr-Kai; Holland, Linda Z.

2016-01-01

Cephalochordates, the sister group of vertebrates + tunicates, are evolving particularly slowly. Therefore, genome comparisons between two congeners of Branchiostoma revealed so many conserved noncoding elements (CNEs), that it was not clear how many are functional regulatory elements. To more effectively identify CNEs with potential regulatory functions, we compared noncoding sequences of genomes of the most phylogenetically distant cephalochordate genera, Asymmetron and Branchiostoma, which diverged approximately 120–160 million years ago. We found 113,070 noncoding elements conserved between the two species, amounting to 3.3% of the genome. The genomic distribution, target gene ontology, and enriched motifs of these CNEs all suggest that many of them are probably cis-regulatory elements. More than 90% of previously verified amphioxus regulatory elements were re-captured in this study. A search of the cephalochordate CNEs around 50 developmental genes in several vertebrate genomes revealed eight CNEs conserved between cephalochordates and vertebrates, indicating sequence conservation over >500 million years of divergence. The function of five CNEs was tested in reporter assays in zebrafish, and one was also tested in amphioxus. All five CNEs proved to be tissue-specific enhancers. Taken together, these findings indicate that even though Branchiostoma and Asymmetron are distantly related, as they are evolving slowly, comparisons between them are likely optimal for identifying most of their tissue-specific cis-regulatory elements laying the foundation for functional characterizations and a better understanding of the evolution of developmental regulation in cephalochordates. PMID:27412606

The Cosmic Dance of Distant Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2006-03-01

GIRAFFE at VLT reveals the turbulent life of distant galaxies Studying several tens of distant galaxies, an international team of astronomers found that galaxies had the same amount of dark matter relative to stars 6 billion years ago as they have now. If confirmed, this suggests a much closer interplay between dark and normal matter than previously believed. The scientists also found that as many as 4 out of 10 galaxies are out of balance. These results shed a new light on how galaxies form and evolve since the Universe was only half its current age. ESO PR Photo 10a/06 ESO PR Photo 10a/06 Collision Between Galaxies (Artist's Impression) "This may imply that collisions and merging are important in the formation and evolution of galaxies", said François Hammer, Paris Observatory, France, and one of the leaders of the team [1]. The scientists were interested in finding out how galaxies that are far away - thus seen as they were when the Universe was younger - evolved into the ones nearby. In particular, they wanted to study the importance of dark matter in galaxies. "Dark matter, which composes about 25% of the Universe, is a simple word to describe something we really don't understand," said Hector Flores, co-leader. "From looking at how galaxies rotate, we know that dark matter must be present, as otherwise these gigantic structures would just dissolve." In nearby galaxies, and in our own Milky Way for that matter, astronomers have found that there exists a relation between the amount of dark matter and ordinary stars: for every kilogram of material within a star there is roughly 30 kilograms of dark matter. But does this relation between dark and ordinary matter still hold in the Universe's past? ESO PR Photo 10b/06 ESO PR Photo 10b/06 Mapping Distant Galaxies (FLAMES-GIRAFFE/VLT) This required measuring the velocity in different parts of distant galaxies, a rather tricky experiment: previous measurements were indeed unable to probe these galaxies in sufficient

Distant touch hydrodynamic imaging with an artificial lateral line.

PubMed

Yang, Yingchen; Chen, Jack; Engel, Jonathan; Pandya, Saunvit; Chen, Nannan; Tucker, Craig; Coombs, Sheryl; Jones, Douglas L; Liu, Chang

2006-12-12

Nearly all underwater vehicles and surface ships today use sonar and vision for imaging and navigation. However, sonar and vision systems face various limitations, e.g., sonar blind zones, dark or murky environments, etc. Evolved over millions of years, fish use the lateral line, a distributed linear array of flow sensing organs, for underwater hydrodynamic imaging and information extraction. We demonstrate here a proof-of-concept artificial lateral line system. It enables a distant touch hydrodynamic imaging capability to critically augment sonar and vision systems. We show that the artificial lateral line can successfully perform dipole source localization and hydrodynamic wake detection. The development of the artificial lateral line is aimed at fundamentally enhancing human ability to detect, navigate, and survive in the underwater environment.

Most Distant Group of Galaxies Known in the Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2002-04-01

confirmed galaxies in the very distant, young cluster found near the radio galaxy TN J1338-1942 . Each galaxy displays a sharp peak in colour showing the signature of its hydrogen gas - this is the redshifted Lyman-alpha emission line [2]. Technical information about the photo is available below. Following up this conjecture, the Leiden astronomers and their colleagues in the USA and Germany [1] proposed a large observing programme with the ESO VLT at Paranal (Chile) to search for groupings of galaxies in the vicinity of distant radio galaxies that might be the ancestors of rich clusters. For this, they first used the FORS2 multi-mode instrument on the 8.2-m VLT KUEYEN telescope to take very "deep" pictures of sky regions around several radio galaxies, each field measuring about one-fifth of the diameter of the full moon. The most distant of these was an object called TN J1338-1942 , a radio galaxy at a distance of about 13.5 billion light years from the Earth. To search for galaxies at the same distance as the radio galaxy, the pictures were optimised in sensitivity for the sharp colour emitted by glowing hydrogen gas at the distance of the radio galaxy [2]. Images were taken through two red filters, one that is "tuned" to light produced by the hydrogen gas (the redshifted Lyman-alpha line) and the other that is dominated by light from stars (the R-band), cf. PR Photo 11a/02 . An earlier example of this observational technique is described in ESO PR 13/99. These images revealed 28 galaxies that are likely to be at the distance of the radio galaxy. More detailed information was obtained for 23 of these with the FORS2 instrument in the spectrographic mode, now confirming 20 of them to be indeed located at the same distance as the radio galaxy, cf. PR Photo 11b/02 . Earliest known group of galaxies The spectra also showed that the galaxies are moving around with speeds of a few hundred kilometers per second. The observed structure of galaxies is more than 10 million light-years

The Million Dollar Bowl. OSHA in the Office.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swartz, Carl

Accidents to office workers add up to 40,000 injuries and more than 200 deaths a year, amounting to expenses from medical assistance and loss of productivity of $100 million. Leading types of accidents are falling caused by slipping on slick or wet floors, tripping over file drawers, slipping on debris on stairs, injuries from poor lighting,…

Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fritz, Susanne A.; Eronen, Jussi T.; Schnitzler, Jan; Hof, Christian; Janis, Christine M.; Mulch, Andreas; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Graham, Catherine H.

2016-09-01

At global and regional scales, primary productivity strongly correlates with richness patterns of extant animals across space, suggesting that resource availability and climatic conditions drive patterns of diversity. However, the existence and consistency of such diversity-productivity relationships through geological history is unclear. Here we provide a comprehensive quantitative test of the diversity-productivity relationship for terrestrial large mammals through time across broad temporal and spatial scales. We combine >14,000 occurrences for 690 fossil genera through the Neogene (23-1.8 Mya) with regional estimates of primary productivity from fossil plant communities in North America and Europe. We show a significant positive diversity-productivity relationship through the 20-million-year record, providing evidence on unprecedented spatial and temporal scales that this relationship is a general pattern in the ecology and paleo-ecology of our planet. Further, we discover that genus richness today does not match the fossil relationship, suggesting that a combination of human impacts and Pleistocene climate variability has modified the 20-million-year ecological relationship by strongly reducing primary productivity and driving many mammalian species into decline or to extinction.

ROSAT Discovers Unique, Distant Cluster of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1995-06-01

Brightest X-ray Cluster Acts as Strong Gravitational Lens Based on exciting new data obtained with the ROSAT X-ray satellite and a ground-based telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, a team of European astronomers [2] has just discovered a very distant cluster of galaxies with unique properties. It emits the strongest X-ray emission of any cluster ever observed by ROSAT and is accompanied by two extraordinarily luminous arcs that represent the gravitationally deflected images of even more distant objects. The combination of these unusual characteristics makes this cluster, now known as RXJ1347.5-1145, a most interesting object for further cosmological studies. DISCOVERY AND FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS This strange cluster of galaxies was discovered during the All Sky Survey with the ROSAT X-ray satellite as a moderately intense X-ray source in the constellation of Virgo. It could not be identified with any already known object and additional ground-based observations were therefore soon after performed with the Max-Planck-Society/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla observatory in Chile. These observations took place within a large--scale redshift survey of X-ray clusters of galaxies detected by the ROSAT All Sky Survey, a so-called ``ESO Key Programme'' led by astronomers from the Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestrische Physik and the Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera. The main aim of this programme is to identify cluster X-ray sources, to determine the distance to the X-ray emitting clusters and to investigate their overall properties. These observations permitted to measure the redshift of the RXJ1347.5-1145 cluster as z = 0.45, i.e. it moves away from us with a velocity (about 106,000 km/sec) equal to about one-third of the velocity of light. This is an effect of the general expansion of the universe and it allows to determine the distance as about 5,000 million light-years (assuming a Hubble constant of 75 km/sec/Mpc). In other words, we see these

Twenty-million-year relationship between mammalian diversity and primary productivity

PubMed Central

Fritz, Susanne A.; Eronen, Jussi T.; Schnitzler, Jan; Hof, Christian; Janis, Christine M.; Mulch, Andreas; Böhning-Gaese, Katrin; Graham, Catherine H.

2016-01-01

At global and regional scales, primary productivity strongly correlates with richness patterns of extant animals across space, suggesting that resource availability and climatic conditions drive patterns of diversity. However, the existence and consistency of such diversity–productivity relationships through geological history is unclear. Here we provide a comprehensive quantitative test of the diversity–productivity relationship for terrestrial large mammals through time across broad temporal and spatial scales. We combine >14,000 occurrences for 690 fossil genera through the Neogene (23–1.8 Mya) with regional estimates of primary productivity from fossil plant communities in North America and Europe. We show a significant positive diversity–productivity relationship through the 20-million-year record, providing evidence on unprecedented spatial and temporal scales that this relationship is a general pattern in the ecology and paleo-ecology of our planet. Further, we discover that genus richness today does not match the fossil relationship, suggesting that a combination of human impacts and Pleistocene climate variability has modified the 20-million-year ecological relationship by strongly reducing primary productivity and driving many mammalian species into decline or to extinction. PMID:27621451

Extreme ecosystem instability suppressed tropical dinosaur dominance for 30 million years.

PubMed

Whiteside, Jessica H; Lindström, Sofie; Irmis, Randall B; Glasspool, Ian J; Schaller, Morgan F; Dunlavey, Maria; Nesbitt, Sterling J; Smith, Nathan D; Turner, Alan H

2015-06-30

A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10-15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO2 data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ(13)Corg and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic.

Extreme ecosystem instability suppressed tropical dinosaur dominance for 30 million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whiteside, Jessica H.; Lindström, Sofie; Irmis, Randall B.; Glasspool, Ian J.; Schaller, Morgan F.; Dunlavey, Maria; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Smith, Nathan D.; Turner, Alan H.

2015-06-01

A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10-15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO2 data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ13Corg and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic.

Extreme ecosystem instability suppressed tropical dinosaur dominance for 30 million years

PubMed Central

Whiteside, Jessica H.; Lindström, Sofie; Irmis, Randall B.; Glasspool, Ian J.; Schaller, Morgan F.; Dunlavey, Maria; Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Smith, Nathan D.; Turner, Alan H.

2015-01-01

A major unresolved aspect of the rise of dinosaurs is why early dinosaurs and their relatives were rare and species-poor at low paleolatitudes throughout the Late Triassic Period, a pattern persisting 30 million years after their origin and 10–15 million years after they became abundant and speciose at higher latitudes. New palynological, wildfire, organic carbon isotope, and atmospheric pCO2 data from early dinosaur-bearing strata of low paleolatitudes in western North America show that large, high-frequency, tightly correlated variations in δ13Corg and palynomorph ecotypes occurred within a context of elevated and increasing pCO2 and pervasive wildfires. Whereas pseudosuchian archosaur-dominated communities were able to persist in these same regions under rapidly fluctuating extreme climatic conditions until the end-Triassic, large-bodied, fast-growing tachymetabolic dinosaurian herbivores requiring greater resources were unable to adapt to unstable high CO2 environmental conditions of the Late Triassic. PMID:26080428

The Light and Dark Sides of a Distant Planet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version

The top graph consists of infrared data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. It tells astronomers that a distant planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, always has a giant hot spot on the side that faces the star, while the other side is cold and dark. The artist's concepts above the graph illustrate how the planet might look throughout its orbit if viewed up close with infrared eyes.

Spitzer was able to determine the difference in temperature between the two sides of this planet by measuring the planet's infrared light, or heat, at five points during its 4.6-day-long trip around its star. The temperature rose and fell depending on which face, the sunlit or dark, was pointed toward Spitzer's cameras. Those temperature oscillations are traced by the wavy orange curve. They indicate that Upsilon Andromedae b has an extreme range of temperatures across its surface, about 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,550 degrees Fahrenheit). This means that hot gas moving across the bright side of the planet cools off by the time it reaches the dark side.

The bottom graph and artist's concepts represent what astronomers might have seen if the planet had bands of different temperatures girdling it, like Jupiter. Some astronomers had speculated that 'hot-Jupiter' planets like Upsilon Andromedae b, which circle very closely around their stars, might resemble Jupiter in this way. If Upsilon Andromedae b had been like this, there would have been no difference between the average temperatures of the sunlit and dark sides to detect, and Spitzer's data would have appeared as a flat line.

A 40-million-year history of atmospheric CO(2).

PubMed

Zhang, Yi Ge; Pagani, Mark; Liu, Zhonghui; Bohaty, Steven M; Deconto, Robert

2013-10-28

The alkenone-pCO2 methodology has been used to reconstruct the partial pressure of ancient atmospheric carbon dioxide (pCO2) for the past 45 million years of Earth's history (Middle Eocene to Pleistocene epochs). The present long-term CO2 record is a composite of data from multiple ocean localities that express a wide range of oceanographic and algal growth conditions that potentially bias CO2 results. In this study, we present a pCO2 record spanning the past 40 million years from a single marine locality, Ocean Drilling Program Site 925 located in the western equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The trends and absolute values of our new CO2 record site are broadly consistent with previously published multi-site alkenone-CO2 results. However, new pCO2 estimates for the Middle Miocene are notably higher than published records, with average pCO2 concentrations in the range of 400-500 ppm. Our results are generally consistent with recent pCO2 estimates based on boron isotope-pH data and stomatal index records, and suggest that CO2 levels were highest during a period of global warmth associated with the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (17-14 million years ago, Ma), followed by a decline in CO2 during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (approx. 14 Ma). Several relationships remain contrary to expectations. For example, benthic foraminiferal δ(18)O records suggest a period of deglaciation and/or high-latitude warming during the latest Oligocene (27-23 Ma) that, based on our results, occurred concurrently with a long-term decrease in CO2 levels. Additionally, a large positive δ(18)O excursion near the Oligocene-Miocene boundary (the Mi-1 event, approx. 23 Ma), assumed to represent a period of glacial advance and retreat on Antarctica, is difficult to explain by our CO2 record alone given what is known of Antarctic ice sheet history and the strong hysteresis of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet once it has grown to continental dimensions. We also demonstrate that in the

Latitudinal species diversity gradient of marine zooplankton for the last three million years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Yasuhara, Moriaki; Hunt, Gene; Dowsett, Harry J.; Robinson, Marci M.; Stoll, Danielle K.

2012-01-01

High tropical and low polar biodiversity is one of the most fundamental patterns characterising marine ecosystems, and the influence of temperature on such marine latitudinal diversity gradients is increasingly well documented. However, the temporal stability of quantitative relationships among diversity, latitude and temperature is largely unknown. Herein we document marine zooplankton species diversity patterns at four time slices [modern, Last Glacial Maximum (18 000 years ago), last interglacial (120 000 years ago), and Pliocene (~3.3–3.0 million years ago)] and show that, although the diversity-latitude relationship has been dynamic, diversity-temperature relationships are remarkably constant over the past three million years. These results suggest that species diversity is rapidly reorganised as species' ranges respond to temperature change on ecological time scales, and that the ecological impact of future human-induced temperature change may be partly predictable from fossil and paleoclimatological records.

Future climate forcing potentially without precedent in the last 420 million years

PubMed Central

Foster, Gavin L.; Royer, Dana L.; Lunt, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

The evolution of Earth's climate on geological timescales is largely driven by variations in the magnitude of total solar irradiance (TSI) and changes in the greenhouse gas content of the atmosphere. Here we show that the slow ∼50 Wm−2 increase in TSI over the last ∼420 million years (an increase of ∼9 Wm−2 of radiative forcing) was almost completely negated by a long-term decline in atmospheric CO2. This was likely due to the silicate weathering-negative feedback and the expansion of land plants that together ensured Earth's long-term habitability. Humanity's fossil-fuel use, if unabated, risks taking us, by the middle of the twenty-first century, to values of CO2 not seen since the early Eocene (50 million years ago). If CO2 continues to rise further into the twenty-third century, then the associated large increase in radiative forcing, and how the Earth system would respond, would likely be without geological precedent in the last half a billion years. PMID:28375201

Environmental change preceded Caribbean extinction by 2 million years

PubMed Central

O'Dea, Aaron; Jackson, Jeremy B. C.; Fortunato, Helena; Smith, J. Travis; D'Croz, Luis; Johnson, Kenneth G.; Todd, Jonathan A.

2007-01-01

Paleontologists typically treat major episodes of extinction as single and distinct events in which a major environmental perturbation results in a synchronous evolutionary response. Alternatively, the causes of biotic change may be multifaceted and extinction may lag behind the changes ultimately responsible because of nonlinear ecological dynamics. We examined these alternatives for the major episode of Caribbean extinction 2 million years ago (Ma). Isolation of the Caribbean from the Eastern Pacific by uplift of the Panamanian Isthmus was associated with synchronous changes in Caribbean near shore environments and community composition between 4.25 and 3.45 Ma. Seasonal fluctuations in Caribbean seawater temperature decreased 3-fold, carbonate deposition increased, and there was a striking, albeit patchy, shift in dominance of benthic ecosystems from heterotrophic mollusks to mixotrophic reef corals and calcareous algae. All of these changes correspond well with a simple model of decreased upwelling and collapse in planktonic productivity associated with the final stages of the closure of the isthmian barrier. However, extinction rates of mollusks and corals did not increase until 3–2 Ma and sharply peaked between 2 and 1 Ma, even though extinction overwhelmingly affected taxa commonly associated with high productivity. This time lag suggests that something other than environmental change per se was involved in extinction that does not occur as a single event. Understanding cause and effect will require more taxonomically refined analysis of the changing abundance and distribution patterns of different ecological guilds in the 2 million years leading up to the relatively sudden peak in extinction. PMID:17369359

Clearing the Cosmic Fog - The Most Distant Galaxy Ever Measured

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-10-01

distances to such faint and remote objects is an enormous challenge and can only reliably be done using spectroscopy from very large ground-based telescopes [4], by measuring the redshift of the galaxy's light. Matt Lehnert takes up the story: "After the announcement of the candidate galaxies from Hubble we did a quick calculation and were excited to find that the immense light collecting power of the VLT, when combined with the sensitivity of the infrared spectroscopic instrument, SINFONI, and a very long exposure time might just allow us to detect the extremely faint glow from one of these remote galaxies and to measure its distance." On special request to ESO's Director General they obtained telescope time on the VLT and observed a candidate galaxy called UDFy-38135539 [5] for 16 hours. After two months of very careful analysis and testing of their results, the team found that they had clearly detected the very faint glow from hydrogen at a redshift of 8.6, which makes this galaxy the most distant object ever confirmed by spectroscopy. A redshift of 8.6 corresponds to a galaxy seen just 600 million years after the Big Bang. Co-author Nicole Nesvadba (Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale) sums up this work, "Measuring the redshift of the most distant galaxy so far is very exciting in itself, but the astrophysical implications of this detection are even more important. This is the first time we know for sure that we are looking at one of the galaxies that cleared out the fog which had filled the very early Universe." One of the surprising things about this discovery is that the glow from UDFy-38135539 seems not to be strong enough on its own to clear out the hydrogen fog. "There must be other galaxies, probably fainter and less massive nearby companions of UDFy-38135539, which also helped make the space around the galaxy transparent. Without this additional help the light from the galaxy, no matter how brilliant, would have been trapped in the surrounding hydrogen fog and we

A magnified young galaxy from about 500 million years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Zheng, Wei; Postman, Marc; Zitrin, Adi; Moustakas, John; Shu, Xinwen; Jouvel, Stephanie; Høst, Ole; Molino, Alberto; Bradley, Larry; Coe, Dan; Moustakas, Leonidas A; Carrasco, Mauricio; Ford, Holland; Benítez, Narciso; Lauer, Tod R; Seitz, Stella; Bouwens, Rychard; Koekemoer, Anton; Medezinski, Elinor; Bartelmann, Matthias; Broadhurst, Tom; Donahue, Megan; Grillo, Claudio; Infante, Leopoldo; Jha, Saurabh W; Kelson, Daniel D; Lahav, Ofer; Lemze, Doron; Melchior, Peter; Meneghetti, Massimo; Merten, Julian; Nonino, Mario; Ogaz, Sara; Rosati, Piero; Umetsu, Keiichi; van der Wel, Arjen

2012-09-20

Re-ionization of the intergalactic medium occurred in the early Universe at redshift z ≈ 6-11, following the formation of the first generation of stars. Those young galaxies (where the bulk of stars formed) at a cosmic age of less than about 500 million years (z ≲ 10) remain largely unexplored because they are at or beyond the sensitivity limits of existing large telescopes. Understanding the properties of these galaxies is critical to identifying the source of the radiation that re-ionized the intergalactic medium. Gravitational lensing by galaxy clusters allows the detection of high-redshift galaxies fainter than what otherwise could be found in the deepest images of the sky. Here we report multiband observations of the cluster MACS J1149+2223 that have revealed (with high probability) a gravitationally magnified galaxy from the early Universe, at a redshift of z = 9.6 ± 0.2 (that is, a cosmic age of 490 ± 15 million years, or 3.6 per cent of the age of the Universe). We estimate that it formed less than 200 million years after the Big Bang (at the 95 per cent confidence level), implying a formation redshift of ≲14. Given the small sky area that our observations cover, faint galaxies seem to be abundant at such a young cosmic age, suggesting that they may be the dominant source for the early re-ionization of the intergalactic medium.

Active Tobacco Smoking and Distant Metastasis in Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

McBride, Sean M.; Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Ali, Nawal N.

Purpose: Distant metastasis is the site of first relapse in approximately one-third of patients with locally advanced oropharyngeal carcinoma, irrespective of human papillomavirus status. Yet the risk factors associated with distant metastasis are not well characterized. We sought to characterize the relationship between smoking status and distant metastasis. Methods and Materials: We evaluated the association between tobacco smoking status and distant metastasis in a retrospective cohort study of 132 patients who underwent definitive radiation therapy and chemotherapy for Stage III-IVA/B oropharyngeal cancer. Information on tobacco smoking was prospectively collected by patient questionnaires and physician notes at the time of diagnosis.more » Thirty-three percent of the patients were nonsmokers, 51% were former smokers, 16% were active smokers. The cumulative lifetime tobacco smoking in pack-years was 20 (range, 0-150). Results: With a median follow-up time of 52 months, the overall rate of distant metastasis at 4 years was 8%. Distant metastasis was the most common first site of relapse, occurring in 56% of the patients with recurrences. Active smokers had higher rates of distant metastasis than non-active smokers (including never- and former smokers; 31% vs. 4%, p < 0.001) and former smokers (31% vs. 3%, p < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in the risk of distant metastasis for patients with lifetime cumulative pack-years >20 and {<=}20 (10% vs. 4%, p = 0.19). In univariate analysis, active smoking (p = 0.0004) and N category (p = 0.009) were predictive of increased risk of distant metastasis. In multivariate analysis, active smoking was the most significant predictive factor for increased risk of distant metastasis (hazard ratio, 12.7, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: This study identified a strong association between active smoking and distant metastasis in patients with oropharyngeal cancer.« less

Distant asteroids and Chiron

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

French, Linda M.; Vilas, Faith; Hartmann, William K.; Tholen, David J.

1989-01-01

Knowledge of the physical properties of distant asteroids (a greater than 3.3 AU) has grown dramatically over the past five years, due to systematic compositional and lighcurve studies. Most of these objects have red, dark surfaces, and their spectra show a reddening in spectral slope with heliocentric distance, implying a change in surface composition. Trojans for which near-opposition phase curve information is available appear to show little or no opposition effect, unlike any other dark solar system objects. The lightcurve amplitudes of Trojan and Hilda asteroids imply significantly more elongated shapes for these groups than for main-belt asteroids of comparable size. These recent observations are reviewed in the context of their implications for the formationan and subsequent evolution of the distant asteroids, and their interrelations with the main belt, Chiron, and comets.

The onset of star formation 250 million years after the Big Bang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hashimoto, Takuya; Laporte, Nicolas; Mawatari, Ken; Ellis, Richard S.; Inoue, Akio K.; Zackrisson, Erik; Roberts-Borsani, Guido; Zheng, Wei; Tamura, Yoichi; Bauer, Franz E.; Fletcher, Thomas; Harikane, Yuichi; Hatsukade, Bunyo; Hayatsu, Natsuki H.; Matsuda, Yuichi; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Okamoto, Takashi; Ouchi, Masami; Pelló, Roser; Rydberg, Claes-Erik; Shimizu, Ikkoh; Taniguchi, Yoshiaki; Umehata, Hideki; Yoshida, Naoki

2018-05-01

A fundamental quest of modern astronomy is to locate the earliest galaxies and study how they influenced the intergalactic medium a few hundred million years after the Big Bang1-3. The abundance of star-forming galaxies is known to decline4,5 from redshifts of about 6 to 10, but a key question is the extent of star formation at even earlier times, corresponding to the period when the first galaxies might have emerged. Here we report spectroscopic observations of MACS1149-JD16, a gravitationally lensed galaxy observed when the Universe was less than four per cent of its present age. We detect an emission line of doubly ionized oxygen at a redshift of 9.1096 ± 0.0006, with an uncertainty of one standard deviation. This precisely determined redshift indicates that the red rest-frame optical colour arises from a dominant stellar component that formed about 250 million years after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of about 15. Our results indicate that it may be possible to detect such early episodes of star formation in similar galaxies with future telescopes.

The onset of star formation 250 million years after the Big Bang.

PubMed

Hashimoto, Takuya; Laporte, Nicolas; Mawatari, Ken; Ellis, Richard S; Inoue, Akio K; Zackrisson, Erik; Roberts-Borsani, Guido; Zheng, Wei; Tamura, Yoichi; Bauer, Franz E; Fletcher, Thomas; Harikane, Yuichi; Hatsukade, Bunyo; Hayatsu, Natsuki H; Matsuda, Yuichi; Matsuo, Hiroshi; Okamoto, Takashi; Ouchi, Masami; Pelló, Roser; Rydberg, Claes-Erik; Shimizu, Ikkoh; Taniguchi, Yoshiaki; Umehata, Hideki; Yoshida, Naoki

2018-05-01

A fundamental quest of modern astronomy is to locate the earliest galaxies and study how they influenced the intergalactic medium a few hundred million years after the Big Bang 1-3 . The abundance of star-forming galaxies is known to decline 4,5 from redshifts of about 6 to 10, but a key question is the extent of star formation at even earlier times, corresponding to the period when the first galaxies might have emerged. Here we report spectroscopic observations of MACS1149-JD1 6 , a gravitationally lensed galaxy observed when the Universe was less than four per cent of its present age. We detect an emission line of doubly ionized oxygen at a redshift of 9.1096 ± 0.0006, with an uncertainty of one standard deviation. This precisely determined redshift indicates that the red rest-frame optical colour arises from a dominant stellar component that formed about 250 million years after the Big Bang, corresponding to a redshift of about 15. Our results indicate that it may be possible to detect such early episodes of star formation in similar galaxies with future telescopes.

Galaxy in Different Lights

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-10-08

The comparison from NASA Hubble telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory highlights how different the universe can look when viewed in other wavelengths of light. M82 is located 12 million light-years away in the Ursa Major constellation.

Basking in Light

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-12-26

Sunlight truly has come to Saturn's north pole. The whole northern region is bathed in sunlight in this view from late 2016, feeble though the light may be at Saturn's distant domain in the solar system. The hexagon-shaped jet-stream is fully illuminated here. In this image, the planet appears darker in regions where the cloud deck is lower, such the region interior to the hexagon. Mission experts on Saturn's atmosphere are taking advantage of the season and Cassini's favorable viewing geometry to study this and other weather patterns as Saturn's northern hemisphere approaches Summer solstice. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 51 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2016 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 46 miles (74 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20513

Photoinduction of cyclosis-mediated interactions between distant chloroplasts.

PubMed

Bulychev, Alexander A; Komarova, Anna V

2015-01-01

Communications between chloroplasts and other organelles based on the exchange of metabolites, including redox active substances, are recognized as a part of intracellular regulation, chlororespiration, and defense against oxidative stress. Similar communications may operate between spatially distant chloroplasts in large cells where photosynthetic and respiratory activities are distributed unevenly under fluctuating patterned illumination. Microfluorometry of chlorophyll fluorescence in vivo in internodal cells of the alga Chara corallina revealed that a 30-s pulse of localized light induces a transient increase (~25%) in F' fluorescence of remote cell parts exposed to dim background light at a 1.5-mm distance on the downstream side from the illuminated spot in the plane of unilateral cytoplasmic streaming but has no effect on F' at equal distance on the upstream side. An abrupt arrest of cytoplasmic streaming for about 30s by triggering the action potential extended either the ascending or descending fronts of the F' fluorescence response, depending on the exact moment of streaming cessation. The response of F' fluorescence to localized illumination of a distant cell region was absent in dark-adapted internodes, when the localized light was applied within the first minute after switching on continuous background illumination of the whole cell, but it appeared in full after longer exposures to continuous background light. These results and the elimination of the F' response by methyl viologen known to redirect electron transport pathways beyond photosystem I indicate the importance of photosynthetic induction and the stromal redox state for long-distance communications of chloroplasts in vivo. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Shedding Light on the Cosmic Skeleton

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-11-01

Astronomers have tracked down a gigantic, previously unknown assembly of galaxies located almost seven billion light-years away from us. The discovery, made possible by combining two of the most powerful ground-based telescopes in the world, is the first observation of such a prominent galaxy structure in the distant Universe, providing further insight into the cosmic web and how it formed. "Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe," says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic web', in which galaxies, embedded in filaments stretching between voids, create a gigantic wispy structure." These filaments are millions of light years long and constitute the skeleton of the Universe: galaxies gather around them, and immense galaxy clusters form at their intersections, lurking like giant spiders waiting for more matter to digest. Scientists are struggling to determine how they swirl into existence. Although massive filamentary structures have been often observed at relatively small distances from us, solid proof of their existence in the more distant Universe has been lacking until now. The team led by Tanaka discovered a large structure around a distant cluster of galaxies in images they obtained earlier. They have now used two major ground-based telescopes to study this structure in greater detail, measuring the distances from Earth of over 150 galaxies, and, hence, obtaining a three-dimensional view of the structure. The spectroscopic observations were performed using the VIMOS instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope and FOCAS on the Subaru Telescope, operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. Thanks to these and other observations, the astronomers were able to make a real demographic study of this structure

Cross-Scale Modelling of Subduction from Minute to Million of Years Time Scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobolev, S. V.; Muldashev, I. A.

2015-12-01

Subduction is an essentially multi-scale process with time-scales spanning from geological to earthquake scale with the seismic cycle in-between. Modelling of such process constitutes one of the largest challenges in geodynamic modelling today.Here we present a cross-scale thermomechanical model capable of simulating the entire subduction process from rupture (1 min) to geological time (millions of years) that employs elasticity, mineral-physics-constrained non-linear transient viscous rheology and rate-and-state friction plasticity. The model generates spontaneous earthquake sequences. The adaptive time-step algorithm recognizes moment of instability and drops the integration time step to its minimum value of 40 sec during the earthquake. The time step is then gradually increased to its maximal value of 5 yr, following decreasing displacement rates during the postseismic relaxation. Efficient implementation of numerical techniques allows long-term simulations with total time of millions of years. This technique allows to follow in details deformation process during the entire seismic cycle and multiple seismic cycles. We observe various deformation patterns during modelled seismic cycle that are consistent with surface GPS observations and demonstrate that, contrary to the conventional ideas, the postseismic deformation may be controlled by viscoelastic relaxation in the mantle wedge, starting within only a few hours after the great (M>9) earthquakes. Interestingly, in our model an average slip velocity at the fault closely follows hyperbolic decay law. In natural observations, such deformation is interpreted as an afterslip, while in our model it is caused by the viscoelastic relaxation of mantle wedge with viscosity strongly varying with time. We demonstrate that our results are consistent with the postseismic surface displacement after the Great Tohoku Earthquake for the day-to-year time range. We will also present results of the modeling of deformation of the

Lunar surface processes and cosmic ray histories over the past several million years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fruchter, J. S.; Rancitelli, L. A.; Evans, J. C.; Perkins, R. W.

1978-01-01

Measurements of the Al-26 and Mn-53 in interior portions of lunar rocks have shown that lunar surface processes which move a significant fraction of kilogram size rocks on the lunar surface occur on time scales of a few million years. These measurements, together with noble gas age dating have made it possible to define the history for nine rock samples selected from whole rock counting data because of anomalously low Al-26 relative to Na-22. Six of the rocks from the Apollo 15 and 16 missions showed evidence of movement during the past five million years. Of these six, only two are of an age consistent with their origin from the South Ray Crater Event. In addition, our measurements of Na-22 and Al-26 in Apollo 17 double drive tube 74001-74002 suggest that one to two cm of soil is missing from the top of this core tube. Even with this loss, at least two cm of gardening is indicated in the top portion of 74002.

The International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pendrill, Ann-Marie

2015-05-01

I report on the opening ceremony of the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies 2015 (IYL2015), which took place at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, on 19-20 January 2015. Over the two days, more than 1000 participants from all over the world learned more about the fundamental properties of light and advanced photonics applications, the history of optics and its applications through the centuries, light poverty and light pollution, and light for everyday life, health and research.

First Light with a 67-Million-Pixel WFI Camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-01-01

tests with the WFI in order to arrive at the optimum adjustment of the camera at the telescope. We show here two of these that illustrate the great potential of this new facility. Spiral Galaxy NGC 253 ESO PR Photo 02a/99 ESO PR Photo 02a/99 [Preview - JPEG: 800x850 pix - 205k] [High-Res - JPEG: 4000 x 4252 pix - 3.0Mb] ESO PR Photo 02b/99 ESO PR Photo 02b/99 [Preview - JPEG: 800x870 pix - 353k] [High-Res - JPEG: 2200 x 2393 pix - 2.0Mb] Caption to PR Photos 02a/99 and 02b/99 : These photos show a sky field around the Spiral Galaxy NGC 253 (Type Sc) seen nearly edge-on. It is located in the southern constellation Sculptor at a distance of about 8 million light-years. The image is the sum of five 5-min exposures through a blue (B-band) optical filtre. They were slightly offset with respect to each other so that the small gaps between the eight CCD's of the mosaic are no longer visible. This image also shows the faint trails of 2 artificial satellites. In PR Photo 02a/99 , the full WFI field-of-view is reproduced, while the sub-field in PR Photo 02b/99 contains some fainter and smaller background galaxies. Many of the quite numerous and small, slightly fuzzy objects are undoubtedly globular clusters of NGC 253. Technical information: The image processing consisted of de-biassing, flat-fielding, and removal (by interpolation) of some bad columns. The full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) of stellar images is about 1.0 arcsec. PR Photo 02a/99 was rebinned (2x2) to 4kx4k size and sampling 0.48 arcsec/pixel. PR Photo 02b/99 is a subimage of the former, but at the full original sampling of 0.24 arcsec/pixel. It covers about 2kx2k, or about 1/16 of the full field. North is up and East is left. The observations were made on December 17, 1998. The Waning Moon ESO PR Photo 02c/99 ESO PR Photo 02c/99 [Preview - JPEG: 800 x 1245 pix - 242k] [High-Res - JPEG: 3000 x 4667 pix - 2.3Mb] ESO PR Photo 02d/99 ESO PR Photo 02d/99 [Preview - JPEG: 800 x 1003 pix - 394k] [High-Res - JPEG: 3000 x

A genomic view of 500 million years of cnidarian evolution

PubMed Central

Steele, Robert E.; David, Charles N.; Technau, Ulrich

2010-01-01

Cnidarians (corals, anemones, jellyfish, and hydras) are a diverse group of animals of interest to evolutionary biologists, ecologists, and developmental biologists. With the publication of the genome sequences of Hydra and Nematostella, whose last common ancestor was the stem cnidarian, we are beginning to see the genomic underpinnings of cnidarian biology. Cnidarians are known for the remarkable plasticity of their morphology and life cycles. This plasticity is reflected in the Hydra and Nematostella genomes, which differ to an exceptional degree in size, base composition, transposable element content, and gene conservation. We now know what cnidarian genomes are capable of doing given 500 million years; the next challenge is to understand how this genomic history has led to the striking diversity we see in cnidarians. PMID:21047698

Ganymede at 3.4 million miles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

This color picture of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest satellite, was taken on the afternoon of March 2, 1979, by Voyager 1 from a distance of about 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles). This photograph was assembled from three black-and-white pictures in the Image Processing Laboratory at JPL. This face of Ganymede is centered on the 260=B0 meridian. Ganymede is slightly larger than the planet Mercury but has a density almost three times less than Mercury. Therefore, Ganymede probably consists in large part of ice. At this resolution the surface shows light and dark markings interspersed with bright spots. The large darkish area near the center of the satellite is crossed by irregular light streaks somewhat similar to rays seen on the Moon. The bright patch in the southern hemisphere is reminiscent of some of the larger rayed craters on the Moon caused by meteorite impact. JPL manages and controls the Voyager project for NASA's Office of Space Science.

Controlled by Distant Explosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2007-03-01

VLT Automatically Takes Detailed Spectra of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows Only Minutes After Discovery A time-series of high-resolution spectra in the optical and ultraviolet has twice been obtained just a few minutes after the detection of a gamma-ray bust explosion in a distant galaxy. The international team of astronomers responsible for these observations derived new conclusive evidence about the nature of the surroundings of these powerful explosions linked to the death of massive stars. At 11:08 pm on 17 April 2006, an alarm rang in the Control Room of ESO's Very Large Telescope on Paranal, Chile. Fortunately, it did not announce any catastrophe on the mountain, nor with one of the world's largest telescopes. Instead, it signalled the doom of a massive star, 9.3 billion light-years away, whose final scream of agony - a powerful burst of gamma rays - had been recorded by the Swift satellite only two minutes earlier. The alarm was triggered by the activation of the VLT Rapid Response Mode, a novel system that allows for robotic observations without any human intervention, except for the alignment of the spectrograph slit. ESO PR Photo 17a/07 ESO PR Photo 17a/07 Triggered by an Explosion Starting less than 10 minutes after the Swift detection, a series of spectra of increasing integration times (3, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 minutes) were taken with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES), mounted on Kueyen, the second Unit Telescope of the VLT. "With the Rapid Response Mode, the VLT is directly controlled by a distant explosion," said ESO astronomer Paul Vreeswijk, who requested the observations and is lead-author of the paper reporting the results. "All I really had to do, once I was informed of the gamma-ray burst detection, was to phone the staff astronomers at the Paranal Observatory, Stefano Bagnulo and Stan Stefl, to check that everything was fine." The first spectrum of this time series was the quickest ever taken of a gamma-ray burst afterglow

A progressively wetter climate in southern East Africa over the past 1.3 million years.

PubMed

Johnson, T C; Werne, J P; Brown, E T; Abbott, A; Berke, M; Steinman, B A; Halbur, J; Contreras, S; Grosshuesch, S; Deino, A; Scholz, C A; Lyons, R P; Schouten, S; Damsté, J S Sinninghe

2016-09-08

African climate is generally considered to have evolved towards progressively drier conditions over the past few million years, with increased variability as glacial-interglacial change intensified worldwide. Palaeoclimate records derived mainly from northern Africa exhibit a 100,000-year (eccentricity) cycle overprinted on a pronounced 20,000-year (precession) beat, driven by orbital forcing of summer insolation, global ice volume and long-lived atmospheric greenhouse gases. Here we present a 1.3-million-year-long climate history from the Lake Malawi basin (10°-14° S in eastern Africa), which displays strong 100,000-year (eccentricity) cycles of temperature and rainfall following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition around 900,000 years ago. Interglacial periods were relatively warm and moist, while ice ages were cool and dry. The Malawi record shows limited evidence for precessional variability, which we attribute to the opposing effects of austral summer insolation and the temporal/spatial pattern of sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean. The temperature history of the Malawi basin, at least for the past 500,000 years, strongly resembles past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and terrigenous dust flux in the tropical Pacific Ocean, but not in global ice volume. Climate in this sector of eastern Africa (unlike northern Africa) evolved from a predominantly arid environment with high-frequency variability to generally wetter conditions with more prolonged wet and dry intervals.

Isolation of a 250 million-year-old halotolerant bacterium from a primary salt crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vreeland, Russell H.; Rosenzweig, William D.; Powers, Dennis W.

2000-10-01

Bacteria have been found associated with a variety of ancient samples, however few studies are generally accepted due to questions about sample quality and contamination. When Cano and Borucki isolated a strain of Bacillus sphaericus from an extinct bee trapped in 25-30 million-year-old amber, careful sample selection and stringent sterilization techniques were the keys to acceptance. Here we report the isolation and growth of a previously unrecognized spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus species, designated 2-9-3) from a brine inclusion within a 250million-year-old salt crystal from the Permian Salado Formation. Complete gene sequences of the 16S ribosomal DNA show that the organism is part of the lineage of Bacillus marismortui and Virgibacillus pantothenticus. Delicate crystal structures and sedimentary features indicate the salt has not recrystallized since formation. Samples were rejected if brine inclusions showed physical signs of possible contamination. Surfaces of salt crystal samples were sterilized with strong alkali and acid before extracting brines from inclusions. Sterilization procedures reduce the probability of contamination to less than 1 in 10 9.

Isolation of a 250 million-year-old halotolerant bacterium from a primary salt crystal.

PubMed

Vreeland, R H; Rosenzweig, W D; Powers, D W

2000-10-19

Bacteria have been found associated with a variety of ancient samples, however few studies are generally accepted due to questions about sample quality and contamination. When Cano and Borucki isolated a strain of Bacillus sphaericus from an extinct bee trapped in 25-30 million-year-old amber, careful sample selection and stringent sterilization techniques were the keys to acceptance. Here we report the isolation and growth of a previously unrecognized spore-forming bacterium (Bacillus species, designated 2-9-3) from a brine inclusion within a 250 million-year-old salt crystal from the Permian Salado Formation. Complete gene sequences of the 16S ribosomal DNA show that the organism is part of the lineage of Bacillus marismortui and Virgibacillus pantothenticus. Delicate crystal structures and sedimentary features indicate the salt has not recrystallized since formation. Samples were rejected if brine inclusions showed physical signs of possible contamination. Surfaces of salt crystal samples were sterilized with strong alkali and acid before extracting brines from inclusions. Sterilization procedures reduce the probability of contamination to less than 1 in 10(9).

Once in a Million Years: Teaching Geologic Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Susan E.; Lampe, Kristen A.; Lloyd, Andrew J.

2005-01-01

The authors advocate that students frequently lack fundamental numerical literacy on the order of millions or billions, and that this comprehension is critical to grasping key evolutionary concepts related to the geologic time scale, the origin and diversification of life on earth, and other concepts such as the national debt, human population…

33 million year old Myotis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) and the rapid global radiation of modern bats.

PubMed

Gunnell, Gregg F; Smith, Richard; Smith, Thierry

2017-01-01

The bat genus Myotis is represented by 120+ living species and 40+ extinct species and is found on every continent except Antarctica. The time of divergence of Myotis has been contentious as has the time and place of origin of its encompassing group the Vespertilionidae, the most diverse (450+ species) and widely distributed extant bat family. Fossil Myotis species are common, especially in Europe, beginning in the Miocene but earlier records are poor. Recent study of new specimens from the Belgian early Oligocene locality of Boutersem reveals the presence of a relatively large vespertilionid. Morphological comparison and phylogenetic analysis confirms that the new, large form can be confidently assigned to the genus Myotis, making this record the earliest known for that taxon and extending the temporal range of this extant genus to over 33 million years. This suggests that previously published molecular divergence dates for crown myotines (Myotis) are too young by at least 7 million years. Additionally, examination of first fossil appearance data of 1,011 extant placental mammal genera indicates that only 13 first occurred in the middle to late Paleogene (48 to 33 million years ago) and of these, six represent bats, including Myotis. Paleogene members of both major suborders of Chiroptera (Yangochiroptera and Yinpterochiroptera) include extant genera indicating early establishment of successful and long-term adaptive strategies as bats underwent an explosive radiation near the beginning of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum in the Old World. A second bat adaptive radiation in the New World began coincident with the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum.

33 million year old Myotis (Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae) and the rapid global radiation of modern bats

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The bat genus Myotis is represented by 120+ living species and 40+ extinct species and is found on every continent except Antarctica. The time of divergence of Myotis has been contentious as has the time and place of origin of its encompassing group the Vespertilionidae, the most diverse (450+ species) and widely distributed extant bat family. Fossil Myotis species are common, especially in Europe, beginning in the Miocene but earlier records are poor. Recent study of new specimens from the Belgian early Oligocene locality of Boutersem reveals the presence of a relatively large vespertilionid. Morphological comparison and phylogenetic analysis confirms that the new, large form can be confidently assigned to the genus Myotis, making this record the earliest known for that taxon and extending the temporal range of this extant genus to over 33 million years. This suggests that previously published molecular divergence dates for crown myotines (Myotis) are too young by at least 7 million years. Additionally, examination of first fossil appearance data of 1,011 extant placental mammal genera indicates that only 13 first occurred in the middle to late Paleogene (48 to 33 million years ago) and of these, six represent bats, including Myotis. Paleogene members of both major suborders of Chiroptera (Yangochiroptera and Yinpterochiroptera) include extant genera indicating early establishment of successful and long-term adaptive strategies as bats underwent an explosive radiation near the beginning of the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum in the Old World. A second bat adaptive radiation in the New World began coincident with the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum. PMID:28273112

Giant Cosmic Lens Reveals Secrets of Distant Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-04-01

black hole with gas. The gas formed an extensive, spinning disk around the galaxy's center, some of it eventually falling into the black hole and some of it forming new stars. In PSS J2322+1944, the astronomers believe that new stars with a total mass equal to some 900 times that of the Sun were forming in the 13,000-light-year-diameter disk every year. At that rate, the scientists say, most of the stars in a large elliptical galaxy could form in only about 100 million years. PSS J2322+1944 is one of the most luminous quasars in the Universe. It was first discovered by George Djorgovski and his collaborators from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), using the digitized Palomar Observatory Sky Survey. Later studies led by Cox and Alain Omont of the Astrophysical Institute of Paris using the IRAM millimeter-wave facilities in Europe (the 30-meter telescope and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer) showed that it had a huge reservoir of dust and molecular gas, the fuel for star formation. Optical observation at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii showed a double image that indicated gravitational lensing. All these factors, the scientists said, made it an ideal candidate for study with the VLA. "Our guess paid off handsomely. Finding that Einstein Ring with the VLA gave us the tool we needed to see what was going on inside that very distant galaxy," said Carilli. "There are fewer than 100 gravitational lenses known so far, and we were extremely lucky to find one that allowed us to help resolve the specific scientific question we were studying." Gravitational lenses were predicted, based on Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, in 1919. Einstein himself showed in 1936 that a perfectly-aligned gravitational lens would produce a circular image, but felt that the chances of actually observing such an object were nearly zero. The first gravitational lens was discovered in 1979, and the first Einstein Ring was discovered by researchers using the VLA in 1987

Using 20-million-year-old amber to test the super-Arrhenius behaviour of glass-forming systems.

PubMed

Zhao, Jing; Simon, Sindee L; McKenna, Gregory B

2013-01-01

Fossil amber offers the opportunity to investigate the dynamics of glass-forming materials far below the nominal glass transition temperature. This is important in the context of classical theory, as well as some new theories that challenge the idea of an 'ideal' glass transition. Here we report results from calorimetric and stress relaxation experiments using a 20-million-year-old Dominican amber. By performing the stress relaxation experiments in a step-wise fashion, we measured the relaxation time at each temperature and, above the fictive temperature of this 20-million-year-old glass, this is an upper bound to the equilibrium relaxation time. The results deviate dramatically from the expectation of classical theory and are consistent with some modern ideas, in which the diverging timescale signature of complex fluids disappears below the glass transition temperature.

The effect of distant reiki on pain in women after elective Caesarean section: a double-blinded randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

vanderVaart, Sondra; Berger, Howard; Tam, Carolyn; Goh, Y Ingrid; Gijsen, Violette M G J; de Wildt, Saskia N; Taddio, Anna

2011-01-01

Introduction Approximately 25% of all babies in North America are delivered via Caesarean section (C-section). Though a common surgical procedure, C-section recovery can be painful. Opioids, specifically codeine, are commonly used to ease pain; however, its active metabolite, morphine, passes into breast milk, and may produce unwanted side effects in neonates; therefore, alternatives to opioids are being sought. Reiki is an ancient Japanese form of healing where practitioners transfer healing energy through light touch and positive healing intention. Although 1.2 million Americans use reiki to reduce pain or depression, there is a lack of strong evidence supporting its effectiveness. A recent systematic review showed existing studies to be of poor methodological quality, with the common limitation of lack of blinding. To overcome this issue, the authors used distant reiki to assess its effectiveness in reducing pain following an elective C-section. Methods In this randomised, double-blinded study, women who underwent an elective C-section were allocated to either usual care (control, n=40) or three distant reiki sessions in addition to usual care (n=40). Pain was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS). The primary endpoint was the Area Under the VAS-Time Curve (AUC) for days 1–3. Secondary measures included: the proportion of women who required opioid medications and dose consumed, rate of healing and vital signs. Results AUC for pain was not significantly different in the distant reiki and control groups (mean±SD; 212.1±104.7 vs 223.1±117.8; p=0.96). There were no significant differences in opioid consumption or rate of healing; however, the distant reiki group had a significantly lower heart rate (74.3±8.1 bpm vs 79.8±7.9 bpm, p=0.003) and blood pressure (106.4±9.7 mm Hg vs 111.9±11.0 mm Hg, p=0.02) post surgery. Conclusion Distant reiki had no significant effect on pain following an elective C-section. Clinical Trial Registration

Empirical evidence for stability of the 405-kiloyear Jupiter-Venus eccentricity cycle over hundreds of millions of years.

PubMed

Kent, Dennis V; Olsen, Paul E; Rasmussen, Cornelia; Lepre, Christopher; Mundil, Roland; Irmis, Randall B; Gehrels, George E; Giesler, Dominique; Geissman, John W; Parker, William G

2018-06-12

The Newark-Hartford astrochronostratigraphic polarity timescale (APTS) was developed using a theoretically constant 405-kiloyear eccentricity cycle linked to gravitational interactions with Jupiter-Venus as a tuning target and provides a major timing calibration for about 30 million years of Late Triassic and earliest Jurassic time. While the 405-ky cycle is both unimodal and the most metronomic of the major orbital cycles thought to pace Earth's climate in numerical solutions, there has been little empirical confirmation of that behavior, especially back before the limits of orbital solutions at about 50 million years before present. Moreover, the APTS is anchored only at its younger end by U-Pb zircon dates at 201.6 million years before present and could even be missing a number of 405-ky cycles. To test the validity of the dangling APTS and orbital periodicities, we recovered a diagnostic magnetic polarity sequence in the volcaniclastic-bearing Chinle Formation in a scientific drill core from Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona) that provides an unambiguous correlation to the APTS. New high precision U-Pb detrital zircon dates from the core are indistinguishable from ages predicted by the APTS back to 215 million years before present. The agreement shows that the APTS is continuous and supports a stable 405-kiloyear cycle well beyond theoretical solutions. The validated Newark-Hartford APTS can be used as a robust framework to help differentiate provinciality from global temporal patterns in the ecological rise of early dinosaurs in the Late Triassic, amongst other problems.

From the Primitive Soup to Cyanobacteria: It May have Taken Less Than 10 Million Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Stanley L.; Lazcano, Antonio

1996-01-01

Most scientific discussions on the likelihood of extraterrestrial life have been constrained by the characteristics of life on our planet and the environmental conditions under which it may have emerged. Although it has been generally assumed that this process must have been extremely slow, involving hundreds of millions or even billions of years, a number of recent discoveries have led to a considerable compression of the time believed necessary for life to appear. It is now recognized that during its early history the Earth and other bodies of the inner Solar System went through a stage of intense collisions. Some of these impacts by large asteroids or comets may have raised the terrestrial surface to sterilizing temperatures and may have evaporated the oceans and killed off life as late as 3.8 x 10(exp 9) years ago. However, there is also ample paleontological evidence derived from the 3.5 x 10(exp 9) year old Warrawoona sediments showing that only 300 million years after the period of intense impacts ended, our planet was populated by phototactic, stromatolite-forming microorganisms. Although these discoveries are now generally interpreted to imply that the origin and early evolution of life were rapid, no attempts have been made to estimate the actual time required for these processes to occur.

Core-needle biopsy of breast cancer is associated with a higher rate of distant metastases 5 to 15 years after diagnosis than FNA biopsy.

PubMed

Sennerstam, Roland B; Franzén, Bo S H; Wiksell, Hans O T; Auer, Gert U

2017-10-01

The literature offers discordant results regarding whether diagnostic biopsy is associated with the dissemination of cancer cells, resulting in local and/or distant metastasis. The long-term outcomes of patients with breast cancer were compared between those who were diagnosed using either fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) or core-needle biopsy (CNB) during 2 decades: the 1970s and 1990s. In the 1970s, the only diagnostic needle biopsy method used for breast cancer in Sweden was FNAB. CNB was introduced 1989 and became established in Stockholm Gotland County in the early 1990s. The authors compared the clinical outcomes of patients diagnosed using FNAB from 1971 to 1976 (n = 354) versus those of patients diagnosed using CNB from 1991 to 1995 (n = 1729). Adjusting for differences in various treatment modalities, mammography screening, tumor size, DNA ploidy, and patient age between the 2 decades, 2 strictly matched samples representing FNAB (n = 181) and CNB (n = 203) were selected for a 15-year follow-up study. In a comparison of the rates of distant metastasis in the strictly matched patient groups from the FNAB and CNB cohorts, significantly higher rates of late-appearing (5-15 years after diagnosis) distant metastasis were observed among the patients who were diagnosed on CNB compared with those who were diagnosed on FNAB. No significant difference in local metastasis was observed between the 2 groups. At 5 to 15 years after diagnosis of the primary tumor, CNB-diagnosed patients had significantly higher rates of distant metastases than FNAB-diagnosed patients. Cancer Cytopathol 2017;125:748-56. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

A genomic view of 500 million years of cnidarian evolution.

PubMed

Steele, Robert E; David, Charles N; Technau, Ulrich

2011-01-01

Cnidarians (corals, anemones, jellyfish and hydras) are a diverse group of animals of interest to evolutionary biologists, ecologists and developmental biologists. With the publication of the genome sequences of Hydra and Nematostella, whose last common ancestor was the stem cnidarian, researchers are beginning to see the genomic underpinnings of cnidarian biology. Cnidarians are known for the remarkable plasticity of their morphology and life cycles. This plasticity is reflected in the Hydra and Nematostella genomes, which differ to an exceptional degree in size, base composition, transposable element content and gene conservation. It is now known what cnidarian genomes, given 500 million years, are capable of; as we discuss here, the next challenge is to understand how this genomic history has led to the striking diversity seen in this group. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fossilized Biophotonic Nanostructures Reveal the Original Colors of 47-Million-Year-Old Moths

PubMed Central

McNamara, Maria E.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Orr, Patrick J.; Wedmann, Sonja; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui

2011-01-01

Structural colors are generated by scattering of light by variations in tissue nanostructure. They are widespread among animals and have been studied most extensively in butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), which exhibit the widest diversity of photonic nanostructures, resultant colors, and visual effects of any extant organism. The evolution of structural coloration in lepidopterans, however, is poorly understood. Existing hypotheses based on phylogenetic and/or structural data are controversial and do not incorporate data from fossils. Here we report the first example of structurally colored scales in fossil lepidopterans; specimens are from the 47-million-year-old Messel oil shale (Germany). The preserved colors are generated by a multilayer reflector comprised of a stack of perforated laminae in the scale lumen; differently colored scales differ in their ultrastructure. The original colors were altered during fossilization but are reconstructed based upon preserved ultrastructural detail. The dorsal surface of the forewings was a yellow-green color that probably served as a dual-purpose defensive signal, i.e. aposematic during feeding and cryptic at rest. This visual signal was enhanced by suppression of iridescence (change in hue with viewing angle) achieved via two separate optical mechanisms: extensive perforation, and concave distortion, of the multilayer reflector. The fossils provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, for the function of structural color in fossils and demonstrate the feasibility of reconstructing color in non-metallic lepidopteran fossils. Plastic scale developmental processes and complex optical mechanisms for interspecific signaling had clearly evolved in lepidopterans by the mid-Eocene. PMID:22110404

Fossilized biophotonic nanostructures reveal the original colors of 47-million-year-old moths.

PubMed

McNamara, Maria E; Briggs, Derek E G; Orr, Patrick J; Wedmann, Sonja; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui

2011-11-01

Structural colors are generated by scattering of light by variations in tissue nanostructure. They are widespread among animals and have been studied most extensively in butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), which exhibit the widest diversity of photonic nanostructures, resultant colors, and visual effects of any extant organism. The evolution of structural coloration in lepidopterans, however, is poorly understood. Existing hypotheses based on phylogenetic and/or structural data are controversial and do not incorporate data from fossils. Here we report the first example of structurally colored scales in fossil lepidopterans; specimens are from the 47-million-year-old Messel oil shale (Germany). The preserved colors are generated by a multilayer reflector comprised of a stack of perforated laminae in the scale lumen; differently colored scales differ in their ultrastructure. The original colors were altered during fossilization but are reconstructed based upon preserved ultrastructural detail. The dorsal surface of the forewings was a yellow-green color that probably served as a dual-purpose defensive signal, i.e. aposematic during feeding and cryptic at rest. This visual signal was enhanced by suppression of iridescence (change in hue with viewing angle) achieved via two separate optical mechanisms: extensive perforation, and concave distortion, of the multilayer reflector. The fossils provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, for the function of structural color in fossils and demonstrate the feasibility of reconstructing color in non-metallic lepidopteran fossils. Plastic scale developmental processes and complex optical mechanisms for interspecific signaling had clearly evolved in lepidopterans by the mid-Eocene.

Earliest Porotic Hyperostosis on a 1.5-Million-Year-Old Hominin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

PubMed Central

Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel; Pickering, Travis Rayne; Diez-Martín, Fernando; Mabulla, Audax; Musiba, Charles; Trancho, Gonzalo; Baquedano, Enrique; Bunn, Henry T.; Barboni, Doris; Santonja, Manuel; Uribelarrea, David; Ashley, Gail M.; Martínez-Ávila, María del Sol; Barba, Rebeca; Gidna, Agness; Yravedra, José; Arriaza, Carmen

2012-01-01

Meat-eating was an important factor affecting early hominin brain expansion, social organization and geographic movement. Stone tool butchery marks on ungulate fossils in several African archaeological assemblages demonstrate a significant level of carnivory by Pleistocene hominins, but the discovery at Olduvai Gorge of a child's pathological cranial fragments indicates that some hominins probably experienced scarcity of animal foods during various stages of their life histories. The child's parietal fragments, excavated from 1.5-million-year-old sediments, show porotic hyperostosis, a pathology associated with anemia. Nutritional deficiencies, including anemia, are most common at weaning, when children lose passive immunity received through their mothers' milk. Our results suggest, alternatively, that (1) the developmentally disruptive potential of weaning reached far beyond sedentary Holocene food-producing societies and into the early Pleistocene, or that (2) a hominin mother's meat-deficient diet negatively altered the nutritional content of her breast milk to the extent that her nursing child ultimately died from malnourishment. Either way, this discovery highlights that by at least 1.5 million years ago early human physiology was already adapted to a diet that included the regular consumption of meat. PMID:23056303

Light Sources and Ballast Circuits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yorifuji, Takashi; Sakai, Makoto; Yasuda, Takeo; Maehara, Akiyoshi; Okada, Atsunori; Gouriki, Takeshi; Mannami, Tomoaki

According to the machinery statistics by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the total of domestic light bulb production in 2006 was 1,101 million (88.5% year-on-year). Production for general purpose illumination light bulbs and halogen light bulbs accounted for 122 million (99.2% y/y) and 45 million (96.3% y/y), respectively. The total of fluorescent lamp production was 988 million (114.9%) and the production of general purpose fluorescent lamps excluding backlights accounted for 367 million (101.7% y/y). Further, HID lamp production was 10 million (106.3% y/y). What is noteworthy regarding such lamp production is that, similar to the previous year, the sales volume (amount) of lamps for general illumination exceeded 100% against the previous year, indicating a steady shift to high value added products. Major lighting exhibitions in 2006 included the Light + Building Trade Fair held in Frankfurt in April and the Light Fair International 2006 held in Las Vegas, U.S.A. in May, both of which demonstrated signs of acceleration toward energy saving, high efficiency and resource saving. As for incandescent lamps, products filled with larger atomic weight gases aiming at higher efficiency/longer life are becoming the mainstream. As for new technologies, it was experimentally demonstrated that infrared radiation can be suppressed by processing micro cavities to metal plates made of tungsten, tantalum, etc. For fluorescent lamps, straight and circular fluorescent lamps achieving a longer life/higher luminous flux maintenance factor continued to be widely developed/launched again this year. For compact fluorescent lamps, energy saving/high efficiency products, multifunctional type products combined with LED and new shaped products were launched. As to HID lamps, ceramic metal halide lamps with high efficiency, improved color rendering, longer life and higher luminous flux maintenance factor were commercialized one after another. Numerous studies and analyses, on

Age at diagnosis and distant metastasis in breast cancer--a surprising inverse relationship.

PubMed

Purushotham, A; Shamil, E; Cariati, M; Agbaje, O; Muhidin, A; Gillett, C; Mera, A; Sivanadiyan, K; Harries, M; Sullivan, R; Pinder, S E; Garmo, H; Holmberg, L

2014-07-01

Predictors for site of distant metastasis and impact on survival in breast cancer are incompletely understood. Clinico-pathological risk factors for site of distant metastasis and survival were analysed in patients with invasive breast cancer treated between 1986 and 2006. Of 3553 patients, with median follow-up 6.32years, 825 (23%) developed distant metastasis. The site of metastasis was bone in 196/825 (24%), viscera in 540/825 (65%) and unknown in 89 (11%). Larger primary invasive tumour size, higher tumour grade and axillary nodal positivity increased risk of metastasis to all sites. Lobular carcinoma was more likely to first metastasise to bone compared to invasive ductal carcinoma (NST). Oestrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PgR) negative and/or Human epidermal growth factor (HER2) positive tumours were more likely to metastasise to viscera. A striking relationship between increasing age at diagnosis and a reduction in risk of distant metastasis to bone and viscera was observed. Median time to death from onset of metastatic disease was 1.52 (Interquartile range (IQR) 0.7-2.9)years for patients with bone metastasis and 0.7 (IQR 0.2-1.5)years for visceral metastasis. On multivariate analysis, despite the decrease in risk of distant metastasis with increasing age, there was an elevated hazard for death in patients >50years at diagnosis of metastasis if they developed bone metastasis, with a similar trend observed in the >70years age group if they developed visceral metastasis. These findings indicate that there are biological mechanisms underlying the impact of age on the development of distant metastasis and subsequent death. This may have important implications in the treatment of breast cancer. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Conservation of chromosome 1 in turtles over 66 million years.

PubMed

Mühlmann-Díaz, M C; Ulsh, B A; Whicker, F W; Hinton, T G; Congdon, J D; Robinson, J F; Bedford, J S

2001-01-01

Fluorescence in situ hybridization of a whole chromosome 1-specific probe from the yellow-bellied slider turtle (Trachemys scripta) to cells from four other species of turtle ranging from a desert tortoise to a loggerhead sea turtle resulted in specific and exclusive hybridization to chromosome 1 in all five species. Previous observations of conservation in the giemsa banding pattern and chromosome morphology and number among turtles are thus extended to the DNA sequence level, revealing a cytogenetic stability of chromosome 1 in these turtles during the past 66-144 million years. This contrasts with the situation for various hominoid species where, in many instances, extensive chromosomal rearrangements have been reported in one third of that time period. Our probe, which was prepared by microdissecting whole chromosomes from embryonic T. scripta fibroblasts and amplifying using DOP-PCR, is the first report of a whole-chromosome FISH probe for any reptile.

Jupiter From 2.8 Million Miles

NASA Image and Video Library

2016-08-25

This dual view of Jupiter was taken on August 23, when NASA's Juno spacecraft was 2.8 million miles (4.4 million kilometers) from the gas giant planet on the inbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. The image on the left is a color composite taken with Junocam's visible red, green, and blue filters. The image on the right was also taken by JunoCam, but uses the camera's infrared filter, which is sensitive to the abundance of methane in the atmosphere. Bright features like the planet's Great Red Spot are higher in the atmosphere, and so have less of their light absorbed by the methane. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20884

470-Million-year-old black corals from China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baliński, Andrzej; Sun, Yuanlin; Dzik, Jerzy

2012-08-01

Phosphatic (possibly secondarily phosphatised) remains of antipatharian coralla, previously unknown in the fossil record, occur abundantly in the early Ordovician Fenxiang Formation in the Hubei Province, southern China. Probably two species (and genera) are represented, which differ in spinosity of branches. The more spinose one, Sinopathes reptans, has its lateral spines bearing regular, longitudinally arranged costellae. The early Floian geological age of this finding, about 470 Ma, supports predictions on the timing of anthozoan phylogeny derived from the molecular phylogenetic evidence. Black corals (Antipatharia) are basal to the scleractinians in the Hexacorallia clade, being more derived than sea anemones and the Zoantharia. Based on calibration of the molecular clock with Mesozoic data, the first split of lineages within the scleractinian hexacorals was proposed to take place approximately 425 million years ago. This implies that the origin of Antipatharia should precede this date. They have not been known in the fossil record because of unmineralised skeleton composed primarily of laminar chitin complexed with a protein. Unlike all recent species, the encrusting basal part of the colony dominated in the Ordovician ones and only occasionally erect branches developed, rather chaotically ramified. This presumably plesiomorphic trait seems consistent with ancient geological age and suggests that some problematic fossils from the Late Cambrian may be their, even less-derived, relatives.

Learning-assisted theorem proving with millions of lemmas☆

PubMed Central

Kaliszyk, Cezary; Urban, Josef

2015-01-01

Large formal mathematical libraries consist of millions of atomic inference steps that give rise to a corresponding number of proved statements (lemmas). Analogously to the informal mathematical practice, only a tiny fraction of such statements is named and re-used in later proofs by formal mathematicians. In this work, we suggest and implement criteria defining the estimated usefulness of the HOL Light lemmas for proving further theorems. We use these criteria to mine the large inference graph of the lemmas in the HOL Light and Flyspeck libraries, adding up to millions of the best lemmas to the pool of statements that can be re-used in later proofs. We show that in combination with learning-based relevance filtering, such methods significantly strengthen automated theorem proving of new conjectures over large formal mathematical libraries such as Flyspeck. PMID:26525678

Distant stereoacuity in children with anisometropic amblyopia.

PubMed

Chung, Yeon Woong; Park, Shin Hae; Shin, Sun Young

2017-09-01

To characterize changes in distant stereoacuity using Frisby-Davis Distance test (FD2) and Distant Randot test (DR) during treatment for anisometropic amblyopia, to determine factors that influence posttreatment stereoacuity and to compare the two distant stereotests. Fifty-eight anisometropic amblyopic patients with an interocular difference of ≥1.00 diopter who achieved the visual acuity 20/20 following amblyopia treatment were retrospectively included. Stereoacuity using FD2 and DR for distant and Titmus test for near measurement were assessed and compared at the initial, intermediate, and final visit. Multivariate regression models were used to identify factors associated with initial and final stereoacuity. The two distant stereotests revealed a significant improvement in distant stereoacuity after successful amblyopia treatment. Distant stereoacuity using FD2 showed the greatest improvement during the follow up period. The number of nil scores was higher in DR than FD2 at each period. In multivariate analysis, better final stereoacuity was associated with better initial amblyopic eye acuity in both distant stereotests, but not in the Titmus test. Comparing the two distant stereotests, final stereoacuity using FD2 was associated with initial stereoacuity and was moderately related with the Titmus test at each period, but final stereoacuity using DR was not. Distant stereoacuity measured with both FD2 and DR showed significant improvement when the visual acuity of the amblyopic eye achieved 20/20. Changes in distant stereoacuity by FD2 and DR during the amblyopia treatment were somewhat different.

VLT Spectra "Resolve" a Stellar Disk at 25,000 Light-Years Distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2001-04-01

Unique Observations of a Microlensing Event Summary Like our Sun, stars are large gaseous spheres. However, while we are able to perceive the Sun's disk, all other stars are so far away that they normally appear as points of light . Only specialized observing techniques, like interferometry [1], are able to "resolve" the images of nearby stars and to show them as extended balls of fire. But opportunities may sometimes arise that allow amazing observational feats in this field . Indeed, an international team of astronomers [2] has just "resolved" a single, normal star some 25,000 light years away , or about 1.6 billion times more distant than the Sun [3], by taking advantage of a multiple microlensing event . During such a rare event, the light from the remote star is amplified by the gravity of a faint object that passes in front of it, as seen from the Earth . In fact, this gravitational lens acts as a magnifying glass that focusses different parts of the star's image at different times. Using the FORS1 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT ANTU telescope on Paranal during a microlensing event, the team was able to obtain detailed spectra of the different parts of the remote star. In doing so, they managed to probe its gaseous atmosphere at different depths. This is the first time that it has been possible to obtain detailed, spatially resolved spectra across the full face of a normal star other than the Sun [4]. PR Photo 16a/01 : The light-curve of Microlensing Event EROS-BLG-2000-5 . PR Photo 16b/01 : The sky area of EROS-BLG-2000-5. PR Photo 16c/01 : A VLT spectrum of EROS-BLG-2000-5. PR Photo 16d/01 : The observed change of the H-alpha line strength of EROS-BLG-2000-5. A many-faceted success story The following story is about a most unusual astronomical observation and also shows how modern astrophysics works . It combines the study of stellar atmospheres with the intricate optical effects produced by the gravitational field of a binary star in the Milky Way

Galactic Teamwork Makes Distant Bubbles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-03-01

During the period of reionization that followed the dark ages of our universe, hydrogen was transformed from a neutral state, which is opaque to radiation, to an ionized one, which is transparent to radiation. But what generated the initial ionizing radiation? The recent discovery of multiple distant galaxies offers evidence for how this process occurred.Two Distant GalaxiesWe believe reionization occurred somewhere between a redshift of z = 6 and 7, because Ly-emitting galaxies drop out at roughly this redshift. Beyond this distance, were generally unable to see the light from these galaxies, because the universe is no longer transparent to their emission. This is not always the case, however: if a bubble of ionized gas exists around a distant galaxy, the radiation can escape, allowing us to see the galaxy.This is true of two recently-discovered Ly-emitting galaxies, confirmed to be at a redshift of z~7 and located near one another in a region known as the Bremer Deep Field. The fact that were able to see the radiation from these galaxies means that they are in an ionized HII region presumably one of the earlier regions to have become reionized in the universe.But on their own, neither of these galaxies is capable of generating an ionized bubble large enough for their light to escape. So what ionized the region around them, and what does this mean for our understanding of how reionization occurred in the universe?A Little Help From FriendsLocation in different filters of the objects in the Hubble Bremer Deep Field catalog. The z~7 selection region is outlined by the grey box. BDF-521 and BDF-3299 were the two originally discovered galaxies; the remaining red markers indicate the additional six galaxies discovered in the same region. [Castellano et al. 2016]A team of scientists led by Marco Castellano (Rome Observatory, INAF) investigated the possibility that there are other, faint galaxies near these two that have helped to ionize the region. Performing a survey

Small bilaterian fossils from 40 to 55 million years before the cambrian.

PubMed

Chen, Jun-Yuan; Bottjer, David J; Oliveri, Paola; Dornbos, Stephen Q; Gao, Feng; Ruffins, Seth; Chi, Huimei; Li, Chia-Wei; Davidson, Eric H

2004-07-09

Ten phosphatized specimens of a small (<180 micrometers) animal displaying clear bilaterian features have been recovered from the Doushantuo Formation, China, dating from 40 to 55 million years before the Cambrian. Seen in sections, this animal (Vernanimalcula guizhouena gen. et sp. nov.) had paired coeloms extending the length of the gut; paired external pits that could be sense organs; bilateral, anterior-posterior organization; a ventrally directed anterior mouth with thick walled pharynx; and a triploblastic structure. The structural complexity is that of an adult rather than a larval form. These fossils provide the first evidence confirming the phylogenetic inference that Bilateria arose well before the Cambrian.

Mutation predicts 40 million years of fly wing evolution.

PubMed

Houle, David; Bolstad, Geir H; van der Linde, Kim; Hansen, Thomas F

2017-08-24

Mutation enables evolution, but the idea that adaptation is also shaped by mutational variation is controversial. Simple evolutionary hypotheses predict such a relationship if the supply of mutations constrains evolution, but it is not clear that constraints exist, and, even if they do, they may be overcome by long-term natural selection. Quantification of the relationship between mutation and phenotypic divergence among species will help to resolve these issues. Here we use precise data on over 50,000 Drosophilid fly wings to demonstrate unexpectedly strong positive relationships between variation produced by mutation, standing genetic variation, and the rate of evolution over the last 40 million years. Our results are inconsistent with simple constraint hypotheses because the rate of evolution is very low relative to what both mutational and standing variation could allow. In principle, the constraint hypothesis could be rescued if the vast majority of mutations are so deleterious that they cannot contribute to evolution, but this also requires the implausible assumption that deleterious mutations have the same pattern of effects as potentially advantageous ones. Our evidence for a strong relationship between mutation and divergence in a slowly evolving structure challenges the existing models of mutation in evolution.

Distant Supernovae Indicate Ever-Expanding Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1998-12-01

,000 million light-years) is observed on five dates with the SUSI camera at the 3.6-m New Technology Telescope (NTT). The host galaxy is clearly visible and the supernova reaches its maximum brightness around 13 March 1997, after which it fades. In PR Photo 50b/98 of another supernova that was found at the same time, the image of the host galaxy is barely visible, most probably because it is a low surface brightness galaxy . Here, the redshift of the supernova is z = 0.40 (distance 6,000 million light-years) and the brightness peaks around 16 March 1997. Technical information: All images were obtained through an R (red) optical filtre. The image quality varies somewhat from image to image. Exposure times and seeing values: Photo 50a/98 - 11 March (300 sec; 0.73 arcsec); 13 March (600 sec; 0.79 arcsec); 16 March (600 sec; 0.72 arcsec); 29 March (1200 sec; 1.17 arcsec); 5 April (300 sec; 0.55 arcsec) and Photo 50b/98 - 11 March (300 sec; 0.50 arcsec); 13 March (600 sec; 0.81 arcsec); 16 March (600 sec; 0.90 arcsec); 29 March (1200 sec; 0.83 arcsec); 7 April (300 sec; 1.43 arcsec); 7 May (1800 sec; 1.22 arcsec). These explosions, known as Type Ia Supernovae , are distinguished by their very uniform properties, including their intrinsic brightness; this makes them ideal for the measurement of large distances, cf. ESO PR Photos 50a/98 and 50b/98 , as well as ESO Press Release 09/95. It is by means of observations of remote objects of this type that the all-important distances could be determined with sufficient accuracy. In particular, coordinated observing campaigns of Type Ia Supernovae were carried out at several of the world's major observatories. In this way it became possible to secure the crucial data that provide the basis of the new analysis. Distances to Type Ia Supernovae are larger than expected The new observations show that, compared to their nearby twins, distant supernovae appear too dim, even for a Universe which has been freely coasting (i.e. with no change of the

Tulelake, California: The last 3 million years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Adam, D.P.; Sarna-Wojcicki, A. M.; Rieck, Hugh J.; Bradbury, J.P.; Dean, W.E.; Forester, R.M.

1989-01-01

The Tulelake basin, formed by east-west extension and faulting during the past several million years, contains at least 550 m of lacustrine sediment. Interdisciplinary studies of a 334 m-long cored section from the town of Tulelake, California, near the center of the basin, document a 3-m.y. record of environmental changes. The core consists of a thick sequence of diatomaceous clayey, silty, and marly lacustrine sediments interbedded with numerous tephra layers. Paleomagnetic study puts the base of the core at about 3.0 Ma. Twelve widespread silicic tephra units provide correlations with other areas and complement age control provided by magnetostratigraphy; mafic and silicic tephra units erupted from local sources are also common in the core. Widespread tephra units include the Llao Rock pumice (=Tsoyawata, 7 ka), the Trego Hot Springs Bed (23 ka), and the Rockland (0.40 Ma), Lava Creek (0.62 Ma), and Rio Dell (1.5 Ma) ash beds, as well as several ash beds also found at Summer Lake, Oregon, and an ash bed originally recognized in DSDP hole 173 in the northeastern Pacific. Several tephra layers found in the core also occur in lacustrine beds exposed around the margins of the basin and elsewhere in the ancestral lacustrine system. Diatoms are present throughout the section. Pollen is present in most of the section, but some barren zones are found in the interval between 50 and 140 m; the greatest change in behavior of the pollen record takes place just above the top of the Olduvai Normal-Polarity Subchronozone. Ostracodes are present only in high-carbonate (>10% CaCO3) intervals. Evolutionary changes are found in the diatom and ostracode records. Bulk geochemical analyses show significant changes in elemental composition of the sediment through time. ?? 1989.

Galaxy Evolution Explorer Celebrates Five Years in Space

NASA Image and Video Library

2008-04-28

Since its launch five years ago, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has photographed hundreds of millions of galaxies in ultraviolet light. M106 is one of those galaxies, 22 light years away, it strikes a pose in blue and gold for this new commemorative portrait. The galaxy's extended arms are the blue filaments that curve around its edge, creating its outer disk. Tints of blue in M106's arms reveal hot, young massive stars. Traces of gold toward the center show an older stellar population and indicate the presence of obscuring dust. From 24 million light-years away, neighboring galaxy NGC 4248 also makes a memorable appearance, sitting just right of M106. The irregular galaxy looks like a yellow smudge, with a bluish-white bar in the center. The galaxy's outer golden glow indicates a population of older stars, while the blue central region shows a younger stellar demographic. Dwarf galaxy UGC 7365 emerges at the bottom center of this image, as a faint yellow smudge directly below M106. This galaxy is not forming any new stars, and looks much smaller than M106 despite being closer to Earth, at 14 million light-years away. Over the past five years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has imaged half a billion objects over 27,000 square degrees of sky —equivalent to an area that would be covered by 138,000 full moons. The telescope orbits Earth every 94 minutes and travels approximately 408,470 million miles per day. Its overarching question is: how do galaxies grow and change over 10 billion years of cosmic history? M106, also known as NGC 4258, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image is a two-color composite, where far-ultraviolet light is blue, and near-ultraviolet light is red. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA10600

Earth-like aqueous debris-flow activity on Mars at high orbital obliquity in the last million years

PubMed Central

de Haas, T.; Hauber, E.; Conway, S. J.; van Steijn, H.; Johnsson, A.; Kleinhans, M. G.

2015-01-01

Liquid water is currently extremely rare on Mars, but was more abundant during periods of high obliquity in the last few millions of years. This is testified by the widespread occurrence of mid-latitude gullies: small catchment-fan systems. However, there are no direct estimates of the amount and frequency of liquid water generation during these periods. Here we determine debris-flow size, frequency and associated water volumes in Istok crater, and show that debris flows occurred at Earth-like frequencies during high-obliquity periods in the last million years on Mars. Results further imply that local accumulations of snow/ice within gullies were much more voluminous than currently predicted; melting must have yielded centimetres of liquid water in catchments; and recent aqueous activity in some mid-latitude craters was much more frequent than previously anticipated. PMID:26102485

The 50 million missing women.

PubMed

Allahbadia, Gautam N

2002-09-01

The epidemic of gender selection is ravaging countries like India & China. Approximately fifty million women are "missing" in the Indian population. Generally three principle causes are given: female infanticide, better food and health care for boys and maternal death at childbirth. Prenatal sex determination and the abortion of female fetuses threatens to skew the sex ratio to new highs. Estimates of the number of female fetuses being destroyed every year in India vary from two million to five million. This review from India attempts to summarize all the currently available methods of sex selection and also highlights the current medical practice regards the subject in south-east Asia.

Activity in distant comets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luu, Jane X.

1992-01-01

Activity in distant comets remains a mystery in the sense that we still have no complete theory to explain the various types of activity exhibited by different comets at large distances. This paper explores the factors that should play a role in determining activity in a distant comet, especially in the cases of comet P/Tempel 2, comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, and 2060 Chiron.

Relative Positions of Distant Spacecraft

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-04-29

This graphic shows the relative positions of NASA most distant spacecraft in early 2011, looking at the solar system from the side. Voyager 1 is the most distant spacecraft, 10.9 billion miles away from the sun at a northward angle.

Fingerprints in the Light

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Figure 1

This graph, or spectrum, shows the light from a dusty, distant galaxy located 11 billion light-years away. The galaxy is invisible to optical telescopes, but NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope was able to capture the light from it and dozens of other similar galaxies using heat-seeking infrared eyes.

Spectra are created when an instrument called a spectrograph spreads light out into its basic parts, like a prism turning sunlight into a rainbow. They contain the signatures, or 'fingerprints,' of molecules that contribute to an object's light.

In this case, the galaxy's spectrum reveals the fingerprint for silicate dust (large dip at right), a planetary building block like sand, only smaller. This particular fingerprint is important because it helped astronomers determine how far away the galaxy lies, or more specifically, how much the galaxy's light had stretched, or 'redshifted,' during its journey to Spitzer's eyes. Because the universe is expanding, a galaxy's light will shift toward reddish wavelengths as it moves away from us. This galaxy was found to have a redshift of 1.95, which means that its light took about 11 billion years to get here.

The presence of the silicate fingerprint is also significant because it implies that galaxies were ripe for planetary formation 11 billion years ago - back to a time when the universe was 3 billion years old. The universe is currently believed to be 13.5 billion years old. This is the furthest back in time that silicate dust has been detected around a galaxy.

These data were taken by Spitzer's infrared spectrograph in July, 2004.

NASA Telescopes Help Identify Most Distant Galaxy Cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2011-01-01

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers have uncovered a burgeoning galactic metropolis, the most distant known in the early universe. This ancient collection of galaxies presumably grew into a modern galaxy cluster similar to the massive ones seen today. The developing cluster, named COSMOS-AzTEC3, was discovered and characterized by multi-wavelength telescopes, including NASA's Spitzer, Chandra and Hubble space telescopes, and the ground-based W.M. Keck Observatory and Japan's Subaru Telescope. "This exciting discovery showcases the exceptional science made possible through collaboration among NASA projects and our international partners," said Jon Morse, NASA's Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Scientists refer to this growing lump of galaxies as a proto-cluster. COSMOS-AzTEC3 is the most distant massive proto-cluster known, and also one of the youngest, because it is being seen when the universe itself was young. The cluster is roughly 12.6 billion light-years away from Earth. Our universe is estimated to be 13.7 billion years old. Previously, more mature versions of these clusters had been spotted at 10 billion light-years away. The astronomers also found that this cluster is buzzing with extreme bursts of star formation and one enormous feeding black hole. "We think the starbursts and black holes are the seeds of the cluster," said Peter Capak of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "These seeds will eventually grow into a giant, central galaxy that will dominate the cluster -- a trait found in modern-day galaxy clusters." Capak is first author of a paper appearing in the Jan. 13 issue of the journal Nature. Most galaxies in our universe are bound together into clusters that dot the cosmic landscape like urban sprawls, usually centered around one old, monstrous galaxy containing a massive black hole. Astronomers thought that primitive versions of these clusters, still forming and clumping

Diagenetic changes of lignin compounds in a more than 0.6 million-year-old lacustrine sediment (Lake Biwa, Japan)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishiwatari, Ryoshi; Uzaki, Minoru

1987-02-01

A vertical profile of lignin in the upper 700 m layer of a 1400 m sediment core of Lake Biwa, an oligotrophic freshwater lake in Japan, was determined using a CuO oxidative degradation method. The results indicated that lignin is found throughout the core, demonstrating lignin to be very stable for over 0.6 million years. Moreover, the upper 250 m (approximately 0.6 million years old) segment of the sediment core was investigated to determine the apparent long term degradation rate of lignin. A downward lignin concentration decrease is observed over the upper 250 m of the core which corresponds to a calculated half life of at least approximately 40 × 10 4 years, assuming that lignin decrease is due to its in situ degradation (diagenesis).

HUBBLE'S ULTRAVIOLET VIEWS OF NEARBY GALAXIES YIELD CLUES TO EARLY UNIVERSE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

, NGC 3310, shows young and old stars evenly distributed. If this were the case with most galaxies, astronomers would be able to recognize faraway galaxies fairly easily. In most galaxies, however, the stars are segregated by age, making classifying the distant ones more difficult. NGC 3310 is 46 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The image was taken Sept. 12-13, 2000. The middle image is an example of a tiny, youthful spiral galaxy. ESO 418-008 is representative of the myriad of dwarf galaxies astronomers have seen in deep surveys. These galaxies are much smaller than typical ones like our Milky Way. In this galaxy, the population of stars is more strongly segregated by age. The older stars [red] reside in the center; the younger [blue], in the developing spiral arms. These small, young galaxies may be the building blocks of galaxy formation. ESO 418-008 is 56 million light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Fornax. The image was taken Oct. 10, 2000. The picture at right shows a cosmic collision between two galaxies, UGC 06471 and UGC 06472. These collisions occurred frequently in the early universe, producing galaxies of unusual shapes. The Hubble telescope has spied many such galaxies in the deep field surveys. The ultraviolet images of this galaxy merger suggest the presence of large amounts of dust, which were produced by massive stars that formed before or during this dramatic collision. This dust reddens the starlight in many places, just like a dusty atmosphere reddens the sunset. Studying the effects of this nearby collision could help astronomers explain the peculiar shapes seen in some of the distant galaxies. UGC 06471 and UGC 06472 are 145 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. The image was taken July 11, 2000. Photo credits: NASA, Rogier Windhorst (Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ), and the Hubble mid-UV team

Oxygen isotope constraints on the sulfur cycle over the past 10 million years.

PubMed

Turchyn, Alexandra V; Schrag, Daniel P

2004-03-26

Oxygen isotopes in marine sulfate (delta18O(SO4)) measured in marine barite show variability over the past 10 million years, including a 5 per mil decrease during the Plio-Pleistocene, with near-constant values during the Miocene that are slightly enriched over the modern ocean. A numerical model suggests that sea level fluctuations during Plio-Pleistocene glacial cycles affected the sulfur cycle by reducing the area of continental shelves and increasing the oxidative weathering of pyrite. The data also require that sulfate concentrations were 10 to 20% lower in the late Miocene than today.

Light Echo From Star V838 Monocerotis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2004-01-01

This photo, captured by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope's (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys, is Hubble's latest view of an expanding halo of light around the distant star V838 Monocerotis, or V Mon, caused by an unusual stellar outburst that occurred back in January 2002. A burst of light from the bizarre star is spreading into space and reflecting off of surrounding circumstellar dust. As different parts are sequentially illuminated, the appearance of the dust changes. This effect is referred to as a 'light echo'. Located about 20,000 light-years away in the winter constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), the star brightened to more than 600,000 times our Sun's luminosity. The light echo gives the illusion of contracting, until it finally disappears by the end of the decade.

Geomagnetic dipole strength and reversal rate over the past two million years.

PubMed

Valet, Jean-Pierre; Meynadier, Laure; Guyodo, Yohan

2005-06-09

Independent records of relative magnetic palaeointensity from sediment cores in different areas of the world can be stacked together to extract the evolution of the geomagnetic dipole moment and thus provide information regarding the processes governing the geodynamo. So far, this procedure has been limited to the past 800,000 years (800 kyr; ref. 3), which does not include any geomagnetic reversals. Here we present a composite curve that shows the evolution of the dipole moment during the past two million years. This reconstruction is in good agreement with the absolute dipole moments derived from volcanic lavas, which were used for calibration. We show that, at least during this period, the time-averaged field was higher during periods without reversals but the amplitude of the short-term oscillations remained the same. As a consequence, few intervals of very low intensity, and thus fewer instabilities, are expected during periods with a strong average dipole moment, whereas more excursions and reversals are expected during periods of weak field intensity. We also observe that the axial dipole begins to decay 60-80 kyr before reversals, but rebuilds itself in the opposite direction in only a few thousand years.

Photographer : JPL Range : 12.2 million kilometers (7.6 million miles) This images shows Jupiter's

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 12.2 million kilometers (7.6 million miles) This images shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot emerging from the five-hour Jovian night. One of three bright, oval clouds which were observed to form approx. 40 years ago can be seen below the Red Spot. Most other features appearing in this view are too small to be seen clearly from Earth. This black and white photo was taken through a violet filter.

Joliet Junior College and the 2015 International Year of Light's Cosmic Light Theme

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Cruz, Noella L.

2015-01-01

We teach "Descriptive Astronomy" and "Life in the Universe" courses for non-science majors at Joliet Junior College, Joliet IL. We also occasionally present planetarium shows at the college's planetarium. In 2015, we plan to highlight the "Cosmic Light" theme of the 2015 International Year of Light through some of our teaching and outreach activities. For several years, together with our students, we have participated in the Globe at Night light pollution program. In 2015, we plan to continue our participation in this program and we will continue to encourage our students to participate on their own from other locations. We will present a live planetarium show on Light Pollution in Spring 2015 as part of the college's Brown Bag Lecture Series. We plan to develop and present one or two live planetarium presentations that focus on studying astronomical objects across the electromagnetic spectrum during 2015. Also in Spring 2015, we plan to include projects that highlight the International Year of Light in our Descriptive Astronomy course offerings. Our poster will provide details of these "Cosmic Light" activities.

Geological and geochemical record of 3400-million-year-old terrestrial meteorite impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lowe, Donald R.; Byerly, Gary R.; Asaro, Frank; Kyte, Frank T.

1989-01-01

Beds of sand-sized spherules in the 3400-million-year-old Fig Tree Group, Barberton Greenstone belt, South Africa, formed by the fall of quenched liquid silicate droplets into a range of shallow- to deep-water depositional environments. The regional extent of the layers, their compositional complexity, and lack of included volcanic debris suggest that they are not products of volcanic activity. The layers are greatly enriched in iridium and other platinum group elements in roughly chondritic proportions. Geochemical modeling based on immobile element abundances suggests that the original average spherule composition can be approximated by a mixture of fractionated tholeiitic basalt, komatiite, and CI carbonaceous chondrite. The spherules are thought to be the products of large meteorite impacts on the Archean earth.

Explained: Why many surveys of distant galaxies miss 90% of their targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-03-01

Astronomers have long known that in many surveys of the very distant Universe, a large fraction of the total intrinsic light was not being observed. Now, thanks to an extremely deep survey using two of the four giant 8.2-metre telescopes that make up ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and a unique custom-built filter, astronomers have determined that a large fraction of galaxies whose light took 10 billion years to reach us have gone undiscovered. The survey also helped uncover some of the faintest galaxies ever found at this early stage of the Universe. Astronomers frequently use the strong, characteristic "fingerprint" of light emitted by hydrogen known as the Lyman-alpha line, to probe the amount of stars formed in the very distant Universe [1]. Yet there have long been suspicions that many distant galaxies go unnoticed in these surveys. A new VLT survey demonstrates for the first time that this is exactly what is happening. Most of the Lyman-alpha light is trapped within the galaxy that emits it, and 90% of galaxies do not show up in Lyman-alpha surveys. "Astronomers always knew they were missing some fraction of the galaxies in Lyman-alpha surveys," explains Matthew Hayes, the lead author of the paper, published this week in Nature, "but for the first time we now have a measurement. The number of missed galaxies is substantial." To figure out how much of the total luminosity was missed, Hayes and his team used the FORS camera at the VLT and a custom-built narrowband filter [2] to measure this Lyman-alpha light, following the methodology of standard Lyman-alpha surveys. Then, using the new HAWK-I camera, attached to another VLT Unit Telescope, they surveyed the same area of space for light emitted at a different wavelength, also by glowing hydrogen, and known as the H-alpha line. They specifically looked at galaxies whose light has been travelling for 10 billion years (redshift 2.2 [3]), in a well-studied area of the sky, known as the GOODS-South field. "This is

Marine extinction risk shaped by trait-environment interactions over 500 million years.

PubMed

Orzechowski, Emily A; Lockwood, Rowan; Byrnes, Jarrett E K; Anderson, Sean C; Finnegan, Seth; Finkel, Zoe V; Harnik, Paul G; Lindberg, David R; Liow, Lee Hsiang; Lotze, Heike K; McClain, Craig R; McGuire, Jenny L; O'Dea, Aaron; Pandolfi, John M; Simpson, Carl; Tittensor, Derek P

2015-10-01

Perhaps the most pressing issue in predicting biotic responses to present and future global change is understanding how environmental factors shape the relationship between ecological traits and extinction risk. The fossil record provides millions of years of insight into how extinction selectivity (i.e., differential extinction risk) is shaped by interactions between ecological traits and environmental conditions. Numerous paleontological studies have examined trait-based extinction selectivity; however, the extent to which these patterns are shaped by environmental conditions is poorly understood due to a lack of quantitative synthesis across studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of published studies on fossil marine bivalves and gastropods that span 458 million years to uncover how global environmental and geochemical changes covary with trait-based extinction selectivity. We focused on geographic range size and life habit (i.e., infaunal vs. epifaunal), two of the most important and commonly examined predictors of extinction selectivity. We used geochemical proxies related to global climate, as well as indicators of ocean acidification, to infer average global environmental conditions. Life-habit selectivity is weakly dependent on environmental conditions, with infaunal species relatively buffered from extinction during warmer climate states. In contrast, the odds of taxa with broad geographic ranges surviving an extinction (>2500 km for genera, >500 km for species) are on average three times greater than narrow-ranging taxa (estimate of odds ratio: 2.8, 95% confidence interval = 2.3-3.5), regardless of the prevailing global environmental conditions. The environmental independence of geographic range size extinction selectivity emphasizes the critical role of geographic range size in setting conservation priorities. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (4.3 million miles) Io is Jupiter's innermost of the

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (4.3 million miles) Io is Jupiter's innermost of the four Galilean satellites. Photo taken at 2:00 AM through an ultraviolet filter. The photo's background is part of Jupiter's disk. North is at the top and the central longitude of Io is 180 degrees. Io shows a contrasting surface with dark polar areas and many light and dark regions around the equator. This resolution of about 100 miles/160 kilometers, no topographic features, like craters, can be seen. The brighter regions may be areas containing sulfur and various salts, making Io very reflective(six times brighter thanb Earth's Moon). Io is about the same size and density as our Moon, but has followed a different evolutionary path, influenced by its closeness to Jupiter and the intense bombardment it receives from the Jovian radiation belts of energetic charged particles.

The first fossil leaf insect: 47 million years of specialized cryptic morphology and behavior

PubMed Central

Wedmann, Sonja; Bradler, Sven; Rust, Jes

2007-01-01

Stick and leaf insects (insect order Phasmatodea) are represented primarily by twig-imitating slender forms. Only a small percentage (≈1%) of extant phasmids belong to the leaf insects (Phylliinae), which exhibit an extreme form of morphological and behavioral leaf mimicry. Fossils of phasmid insects are extremely rare worldwide. Here we report the first fossil leaf insect, Eophyllium messelensis gen. et sp. nov., from 47-million-year-old deposits at Messel in Germany. The new specimen, a male, is exquisitely preserved and displays the same foliaceous appearance as extant male leaf insects. Clearly, an advanced form of extant angiosperm leaf mimicry had already evolved early in the Eocene. We infer that this trait was combined with a special behavior, catalepsy or “adaptive stillness,” enabling Eophyllium to deceive visually oriented predators. Potential predators reported from the Eocene are birds, early primates, and bats. The combination of primitive and derived characters revealed by Eophyllium allows the determination of its exact phylogenetic position and illuminates the evolution of leaf mimicry for this insect group. It provides direct evidence that Phylliinae originated at least 47 Mya. Eophyllium enlarges the known geographical range of Phylliinae, currently restricted to southeast Asia, which is apparently a relict distribution. This fossil leaf insect bears considerable resemblance to extant individuals in size and cryptic morphology, indicating minimal change in 47 million years. This absence of evolutionary change is an outstanding example of morphological and, probably, behavioral stasis. PMID:17197423

12 Scientists Will Share $120-Million from Saudis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guterman, Lila

2008-01-01

This spring 12 scientists found themselves in an unusual position--they have to figure out how to spend $2-million every year for the next five years. The money adds up to $10-million per researcher. In May the researchers made a pilgrimage to the source of the generous grants: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a graduate…

Galaxy Evolution Explorer Celebrates Five Years in Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Poster Version

Since its launch five years ago, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has photographed hundreds of millions of galaxies in ultraviolet light. M106 is one of those galaxies, and from 22 light years away, it strikes a pose in blue and gold for this new commemorative portrait.

The galaxy's extended arms are the blue filaments that curve around its edge, creating its outer disk. Tints of blue in M106's arms reveal hot, young massive stars. Traces of gold toward the center show an older stellar population and indicate the presence of obscuring dust.

From 24 million light-years away, neighboring galaxy NGC 4248 also makes a memorable appearance, sitting just right of M106. The irregular galaxy looks like a yellow smudge, with a bluish-white bar in the center. The galaxy's outer golden glow indicates a population of older stars, while the blue central region shows a younger stellar demographic.

Dwarf galaxy UGC 7365 emerges at the bottom center of this image, as a faint yellow smudge directly below M106. This galaxy is not forming any new stars, and looks much smaller than M106 despite being closer to Earth, at 14 million light-years away.

Over the past five years, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer has imaged half a billion objects over 27,000 square degrees of sky equivalent to an area that would be covered by 138,000 full moons. The telescope orbits Earth every 94 minutes and travels approximately 408,470 million miles per day. Its overarching question is: how do galaxies grow and change over 10 billion years of cosmic history?

M106, also known as NGC 4258, is located in the constellation Canes Venatici. This image is a two-color composite, where far-ultraviolet light is blue, and near-ultraviolet light is red.

Enhancing the view of a million galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-06-01

physical properties and distribution of galaxies do not skew the results. About four years ago, ESA's XMM-Newton observatory and NAOJ's Subaru Telescope began a deep survey of a region of sky located in the southern constellation Cetus (the 'Whale'), now known as the Subaru/XMM-Newton Deep Survey (SXDS) field. The SXDS covers a roughly square patch in the sky, measuring about 1.3 degree on a side, or about seven times the area of the full moon and nearly 1000 times larger than the area of the famous Hubble Deep Field. Both observatories have devoted a considerable amount of time to the SXDS. The XMM-Newton observations represent the deepest and most sensitive wide-area X-ray survey ever carried out by XMM-Newton, totalling over one hundred hours of exposure time. The Subaru Telescope has stared at this field for over two hundred hours, in four different colours, revealing details which are hundred million times fainter than what can be seen with the naked eye. Over a thousand X-ray sources are found in the XMM-Newton images. Some of them are nearby stars with very active coronas that radiate in the X-ray domain, but the largest majority are far-flung active galaxies hiding powerful black holes in their nuclei. Other sources include distant clusters of galaxies, located up to eight thousand million light years away. Since X-rays travel in space at a finite speed, XMM-Newton gives us a view of these galaxies when they were much younger and less evolved than now. By comparing these images with those of nearby galaxies, astronomers can infer how they have evolved in the course of the last several thousand million years, or about three quarters of the life of the Universe. The true virtue of the SXDS is that it allows for a seamless comparison and combination of the XMM-Newton images, which provide an X-ray view of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe, with the Subaru data, offering a picture in visible light of where stars form in galaxies. The combined SXDS images

ESA's XMM-Newton gains deep insights into the distant Universe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-07-01

First image from the XMM-LSS survey hi-res Size hi-res: 87 kb Credits: ESA First image from the XMM-LSS survey The first image from the XMM-LSS survey is actually a combination of fourteen separate 'pointings' of the space observatory. It represents a region of the sky eight times larger than the full Moon and contains around 25 clusters. The circles represent the sources previously known from the 1991 ROSAT All-Sky Survey. A computer programme zooms in on an interesting region hi-res Size hi-res: 86 kb Credits: ESA A computer programme zooms in on an interesting region A computer programme zooms in on an interesting region of the image and identifies the possible cluster. Each point on this graph represents a single X-ray photons detected by XMM-Newton. Most come from distant actie galaxies and the computer must perform a sophisticated, statistical computation to determine which X-ray come from clusters. Contour map of clusters hi-res Size hi-res: 139 kb Credits: ESA Contour map of clusters The computer programme transforms the XMM-Newton data into a contour map of the cluster's probable extent and superimposes it over the CFHT snapshot, allowing the individual galaxies in the cluster to be targeted for further observations with ESO's VLT, to measure its distance and locate the cluster in the universe. Unlike grains of sand on a beach, matter is not uniformly spread throughout the Universe. Instead, it is concentrated into galaxies like our own which themselves congregate into clusters. These clusters are 'strung' throughout the Universe in a web-like structure. Astronomers have studied this large-scale structure of the nearby Universe but have lacked the instruments to extend the search to the large volumes of the distant Universe. Thanks to its unrivalled sensitivity, in less than three hours, ESA's X-ray observatory XMM-Newton can see back about 7000 million years to a cosmological era when the Universe was about half its present size, and clusters of galaxies

One million years of glaciation and denudation history in west Greenland

PubMed Central

Strunk, Astrid; Knudsen, Mads Faurschou; Egholm, David L.; Jansen, John D.; Levy, Laura B.; Jacobsen, Bo H.; Larsen, Nicolaj K.

2017-01-01

The influence of major Quaternary climatic changes on growth and decay of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and associated erosional impact on the landscapes, is virtually unknown beyond the last deglaciation. Here we quantify exposure and denudation histories in west Greenland by applying a novel Markov-Chain Monte Carlo modelling approach to all available paired cosmogenic 10Be-26Al bedrock data from Greenland. We find that long-term denudation rates in west Greenland range from >50 m Myr−1 in low-lying areas to ∼2 m Myr−1 at high elevations, hereby quantifying systematic variations in denudation rate among different glacial landforms caused by variations in ice thickness across the landscape. We furthermore show that the present day ice-free areas only were ice covered ca. 45% of the past 1 million years, and even less at high-elevation sites, implying that the Greenland Ice Sheet for much of the time was of similar size or even smaller than today. PMID:28098141

Nearby Hot Stars May Change Our View of Distant Sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-07-01

Nebula were thought to have formed only as the star evolved late into its lifetime, Walker and collaborators are now suggesting that all stars regardless of spectral type or evolutionary stage may be surrounded by swarms of tiny molecular clumps. Aroundstars that are hot enough, these clumps become the ionized plasma streamers that can cause interference with the light traveling to us from distant sources.Significant MassTo test this theory, Walker and collaborators explore observations of two distant radio quasars that have both exhibited intra-day variability over many years of observations. The team identified a hot A-type star near each of these two sources: J1819+3845 has Vega nearby, and PKS 1257326 has Alhakim.Locations of stars along the line of site to two distant quasars, J1819+3845 (top panel) and PKS 1257326 (bottom panel). Both have a nearby, hot star (blue markers) radially within 2 pc: Vega (z = 7.7 pc) and Alhakim (z = 18 pc), respectively. [Walker et al. 2017]By modeling the systems of the sources and stars, the authors show that the size, location, orientation, and numbers of plasma concentrations necessary to explain observations are all consistent with an environment similar to that of the Helix Nebula. Walker and collaborators find that the total mass in the molecular clumps surrounding the two stars would need to be comparable to the mass of the stars themselves.If this picture is correct, and if all stars are indeed surrounded by molecular clumps like these, then a substantial fraction of the mass of ourgalaxy could be contained in these clumps. Besides explaining distant quasar scintillation, this idea would therefore have a significant impact on our overall understanding of how mass in galaxies is distributed. More observations of twinkling quasars are the next step toward confirming this picture.CitationMark A. Walker et al 2017 ApJ 843 15. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa705c

One Year on Earth – Seen From 1 Million Miles

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

On July 20, 2015, NASA released to the world the first image of the sunlit side of Earth captured by the space agency's EPIC camera on NOAA's DSCOVR satellite. The camera has now recorded a full year of life on Earth from its orbit at Lagrange point 1, approximately 1 million miles from Earth, where it is balanced between the gravity of our home planet and the sun. EPIC takes a new picture every two hours, revealing how the planet would look to human eyes, capturing the ever-changing motion of clouds and weather systems and the fixed features of Earth such as deserts, forests and the distinct blues of different seas. EPIC will allow scientists to monitor ozone and aerosol levels in Earth’s atmosphere, cloud height, vegetation properties and the ultraviolet reflectivity of Earth. The primary objective of DSCOVR, a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force, is to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA. For more information about DSCOVR, visit: go.nasa.gov/29Pqm15

Sufficient oxygen for animal respiration 1,400 million years ago

PubMed Central

Zhang, Shuichang; Wang, Xiaomei; Wang, Huajian; Bjerrum, Christian J.; Hammarlund, Emma U.; Costa, M. Mafalda; Connelly, James N.; Zhang, Baomin; Su, Jin; Canfield, Donald E.

2016-01-01

The Mesoproterozoic Eon [1,600–1,000 million years ago (Ma)] is emerging as a key interval in Earth history, with a unique geochemical history that might have influenced the course of biological evolution on Earth. Indeed, although this time interval is rather poorly understood, recent chromium isotope results suggest that atmospheric oxygen levels were <0.1% of present levels, sufficiently low to have inhibited the evolution of animal life. In contrast, using a different approach, we explore the distribution and enrichments of redox-sensitive trace metals in the 1,400 Ma sediments of Unit 3 of the Xiamaling Formation, North China Block. Patterns of trace metal enrichments reveal oxygenated bottom waters during deposition of the sediments, and biomarker results demonstrate the presence of green sulfur bacteria in the water column. Thus, we document an ancient oxygen minimum zone. We develop a simple, yet comprehensive, model of marine carbon−oxygen cycle dynamics to show that our geochemical results are consistent with atmospheric oxygen levels >4% of present-day levels. Therefore, in contrast to previous suggestions, we show that there was sufficient oxygen to fuel animal respiration long before the evolution of animals themselves. PMID:26729865

Lens design of LED searchlight of high brightness and distant spot.

PubMed

Zhao, Shuang; Wang, Kai; Chen, Fei; Wu, Dan; Liu, Sheng

2011-05-01

The study related in this paper is the design of a ship-mounted LED of high brightness and distant spot. The freeform lens design obeying the edge ray principle and Snell's law is presented first. Then, to fit the illumination requirement of the searchlight, we designed a freeform lens to collimate all the light rays coming from the LED. However, theoretical analysis proves that there is a critical angle for incident rays beyond which the rays cannot be collimated, and 55% is the light-efficiency limit for polymethyl methacrylate freeform lens. We then designed a combination of a freeform lens-coupled parabolic reflector that improved light efficiency to 70%. In this paper, the design of the freeform lens-coupled parabolic reflector is given in detail. In addition, tolerance analysis and the effect of manufacturing defect are presented.

New View of Distant Galaxy Reveals Furious Star Formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2007-12-01

A furious rate of star formation discovered in a distant galaxy shows that galaxies in the early Universe developed either much faster or in a different way from what astronomers have thought. "This galaxy is forming stars at an incredible rate," said Wei-Hao Wang, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, New Mexico. The galaxy, Wang said, is forming the equivalent of 4,000 Suns a year. This is a thousand times more violent than our own Milky Way Galaxy. Location of Distant Galaxy Visible-light, left (from HST) and Infrared, right, (from Spitzer) Images: Circles indicate location of GOODS 850-5. CREDIT: Wang et al., STScI, Spitzer, NASA, NRAO/AUI/NSF Click on image for high-resolution file (1 MB) The galaxy, called GOODS 850-5, is 12 billion light-years from Earth, and thus is seen as it was only about 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. Wang and his colleagues observed it using the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's Submillimeter Array (SMA) on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Young stars in the galaxy were enshrouded in dust that was heated by the stars and radiated infrared light strongly. Because of the galaxy's great distance from Earth, the infrared light waves have been stretched out to submillimeter-length radio waves, which are seen by the SMA. The waves were stretched or "redshifted," as astronomers say, by the ongoing expansion of the Universe. "This evidence for prolific star formation is hidden by the dust from visible-light telescopes," Wang explained. The dust, in turn, was formed from heavy elements that had to be built up in the cores of earlier stars. This indicates, Wang said, that significant numbers of stars already had formed, then spewed those heavy elements into interstellar space through supernova explosions and stellar winds. "Seeing the radiation from this heated dust revealed star formation we could have found in no other way," Wang said. Similar dusty galaxies in the early Universe may contain most of the

Launching Light: Beyond the Bulb for the United Nations' International Year of Light 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arcand, K. K.; Watzke, M.

2015-09-01

In astronomy, light is the language used to understand the Universe. From radio waves to gamma rays, light in all its forms delivers information that helps astronomers learn about the Universe. When the United Nations declared 2015 to be the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL2015), it presented an opportunity to share the role that light plays in astronomy and beyond. The IYL2015 also offered a chance to build on experiences and sustain networks from the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. Light: Beyond the Bulb is an IYL2015 project that melds both of these goals. The project takes the form of an exhibit that showcases what light can do, from here on Earth and across the vastness of space, hosted by volunteer networks in public spaces for informal science learning.

The World of Coelophysis - A New York Dinosaur of 200 Million Years Ago. Geological Survey: Circular 49.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Donald W.

Coelophysis was an ostrich-like, meat-eating dinosaur that inhabitated southwestern New York State approximately 200 million years ago. At that time the region was semi-tropical and hosted a bizarre array of amphibians, reptiles, and plants while experiencing unrest in the form of basin settling, earthquakes, faults, and intrusions and outpourings…

North America Nebula in Different Lights

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-02-10

This view of the North America nebula combines both visible and infrared light observations, taken by the Digitized Sky Survey and NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Clusters of young stars about one million years old can be found throughout the image.

A Neptune-sized transiting planet closely orbiting a 5–10-million-year-old star.

PubMed

David, Trevor J; Hillenbrand, Lynne A; Petigura, Erik A; Carpenter, John M; Crossfield, Ian J M; Hinkley, Sasha; Ciardi, David R; Howard, Andrew W; Isaacson, Howard T; Cody, Ann Marie; Schlieder, Joshua E; Beichman, Charles A; Barenfeld, Scott A

2016-06-30

Theories of the formation and early evolution of planetary systems postulate that planets are born in circumstellar disks, and undergo radial migration during and after dissipation of the dust and gas disk from which they formed. The precise ages of meteorites indicate that planetesimals—the building blocks of planets—are produced within the first million years of a star’s life. Fully formed planets are frequently detected on short orbital periods around mature stars. Some theories suggest that the in situ formation of planets close to their host stars is unlikely and that the existence of such planets is therefore evidence of large-scale migration. Other theories posit that planet assembly at small orbital separations may be common. Here we report a newly born, transiting planet orbiting its star with a period of 5.4 days. The planet is 50 per cent larger than Neptune, and its mass is less than 3.6 times that of Jupiter (at 99.7 per cent confidence), with a true mass likely to be similar to that of Neptune. The star is 5–10 million years old and has a tenuous dust disk extending outward from about twice the Earth–Sun separation, in addition to the fully formed planet located at less than one-twentieth of the Earth–Sun separation.

Exposing Cancer Cells' Secret Aides to Spread Disease to Distant Sites | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

Researchers are shedding new light on the way cancer spreads from the primary organ to distant sites in the body, a process called metastasis. The assault of metastatic tumors on vital organs too frequently results in death, and until recently, little was known about the molecular mechanisms governing this devastating phenomenon.

The dynamics of LTR retrotransposon accumulation across 25 million years of panicoid grass evolution

PubMed Central

Estep, M C; DeBarry, J D; Bennetzen, J L

2013-01-01

Sample sequence analysis was employed to investigate the repetitive DNAs that were most responsible for the evolved variation in genome content across seven panicoid grasses with >5-fold variation in genome size and different histories of polyploidy. In all cases, the most abundant repeats were LTR retrotransposons, but the particular families that had become dominant were found to be different in the Pennisetum, Saccharum, Sorghum and Zea lineages. One element family, Huck, has been very active in all of the studied species over the last few million years. This suggests the transmittal of an active or quiescent autonomous set of Huck elements to this lineage at the founding of the panicoids. Similarly, independent recent activity of Ji and Opie elements in Zea and of Leviathan elements in Sorghum and Saccharum species suggests that members of these families with exceptional activation potential were present in the genome(s) of the founders of these lineages. In a detailed analysis of the Zea lineage, the combined action of several families of LTR retrotransposons were observed to have approximately doubled the genome size of Zea luxurians relative to Zea mays and Zea diploperennis in just the last few million years. One of the LTR retrotransposon amplification bursts in Zea may have been initiated by polyploidy, but the great majority of transposable element activations are not. Instead, the results suggest random activation of a few or many LTR retrotransposons families in particular lineages over evolutionary time, with some families especially prone to future activation and hyper-amplification. PMID:23321774

Revival and Identification of Bacterial Spores in 25- to 40-Million-Year-Old Dominican Amber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cano, Raul J.; Borucki, Monica K.

1995-05-01

A bacterial spore was revived, cultured, and identified from the abdominal contents of extinct bees preserved for 25 to 40 million years in buried Dominican amber. Rigorous surface decontamination of the amber and aseptic procedures were used during the recovery of the bacterium. Several lines of evidence indicated that the isolated bacterium was of ancient origin and not an extant contaminant. The characteristic enzymatic, biochemical, and 16S ribosomal DNA profiles indicated that the ancient bacterium is most closely related to extant Bacillus sphaericus.

[Distant mental influence on living organisms].

PubMed

Bonilla, Ernesto

2013-12-01

This article reviews studies of distant mental influence on living organisms, including mental suggestions of sleeping and awakening, mental influence at long distances, mental interactions with remote biological systems, mental effects on physiological activity and the sense of being stared at. Significant effects of distant mental influence have been shown in several randomized controlled trials in humans, animals, plants, bacteria and cells in the laboratory. Although distant mental influence on living organisms appears to contradict our ordinary sense of reality and the laws defined by conventional science, several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the observed effects; they include skeptical, signal transfer, field, multidimensional space/time and quantum mechanics hypotheses. In conclusion, as the progress of physics continues to expand our comprehension of reality, a rational explanation for distant mind-matter interaction will emerge and, as history has shown repeatedly, the supernatural events will evolve into paranormal and then, into normal ones, as the scientific frontiers expand.

A Flight Through the Universe, by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aragon, Miguel; Subbarao, Mark; Szalay, Alex

This animated flight through the universe was made by Miguel Aragon of Johns Hopkins University with Mark Subbarao of the Adler Planetarium and Alex Szalay of Johns Hopkins. There are close to 400,000 galaxies in the animation, with images of the actual galaxies in these positions (or in some cases their near cousins in type) derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 7. Vast as this slice of the universe seems, its most distant reach is to redshift 0.1, corresponding to roughly 1.3 billion light years from Earth. SDSS Data Release 9 from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopicmore » Survey (BOSS), led by Berkeley Lab scientists, includes spectroscopic data for well over half a million galaxies at redshifts up to 0.8 -- roughly 7 billion light years distant -- and over a hundred thousand quasars to redshift 3.0 and beyond.« less

Phosphogenesis in the 2460 and 2728 million-year-old banded iron formations as evidence for biological cycling of phosphate in the early biosphere

PubMed Central

Li, Yi-Liang; Sun, Si; Chan, Lung S

2013-01-01

The banded iron formation deposited during the first 2 billion years of Earth's history holds the key to understanding the interplay between the geosphere and the early biosphere at large geological timescales. The earliest ore-scale phosphorite depositions formed almost at ∼2.0–2.2 billion years ago bear evidence for the earliest bloom of aerobic life. The cycling of nutrient phosphorus and how it constrained primary productivity in the anaerobic world of Archean–Palaeoproterozoic eons are still open questions. The controversy centers about whether the precipitation of ultrafine ferric oxyhydroxide due to the microbial Fe(II) oxidation in oceans earlier than 1.9 billion years substantially sequestrated phosphate, and whether this process significantly limited the primary productivity of the early biosphere. In this study, we report apatite radial flowers of a few micrometers in the 2728 million-year-old Abitibi banded iron formation and the 2460 million-year-old Kuruman banded iron formation and their similarities to those in the 535 million-year-old Lower Cambrian phosphorite. The lithology of the 535 Million-year-old phosphorite as a biosignature bears abundant biomarkers that reveal the possible similar biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the Later Archean and Palaeoproterozoic oceans. These apatite radial flowers represent the primary precipitation of phosphate derived from the phytoplankton blooms in the euphotic zones of Neoarchean and Palaoeproterozoic oceans. The unbiased distributions of the apatite radial flowers within sub-millimeter bands do not support the idea of an Archean Crisis of Phosphate. This is the first report of the microbial mediated mineralization of phosphorus before the Great Oxidation Event when the whole biosphere was still dominated by anaerobic microorganisms. PMID:23404127

Phosphogenesis in the 2460 and 2728 million-year-old banded iron formations as evidence for biological cycling of phosphate in the early biosphere.

PubMed

Li, Yi-Liang; Sun, Si; Chan, Lung S

2012-01-01

The banded iron formation deposited during the first 2 billion years of Earth's history holds the key to understanding the interplay between the geosphere and the early biosphere at large geological timescales. The earliest ore-scale phosphorite depositions formed almost at ∼2.0-2.2 billion years ago bear evidence for the earliest bloom of aerobic life. The cycling of nutrient phosphorus and how it constrained primary productivity in the anaerobic world of Archean-Palaeoproterozoic eons are still open questions. The controversy centers about whether the precipitation of ultrafine ferric oxyhydroxide due to the microbial Fe(II) oxidation in oceans earlier than 1.9 billion years substantially sequestrated phosphate, and whether this process significantly limited the primary productivity of the early biosphere. In this study, we report apatite radial flowers of a few micrometers in the 2728 million-year-old Abitibi banded iron formation and the 2460 million-year-old Kuruman banded iron formation and their similarities to those in the 535 million-year-old Lower Cambrian phosphorite. The lithology of the 535 Million-year-old phosphorite as a biosignature bears abundant biomarkers that reveal the possible similar biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in the Later Archean and Palaeoproterozoic oceans. These apatite radial flowers represent the primary precipitation of phosphate derived from the phytoplankton blooms in the euphotic zones of Neoarchean and Palaoeproterozoic oceans. The unbiased distributions of the apatite radial flowers within sub-millimeter bands do not support the idea of an Archean Crisis of Phosphate. This is the first report of the microbial mediated mineralization of phosphorus before the Great Oxidation Event when the whole biosphere was still dominated by anaerobic microorganisms.

Ten Windows Into the Meteorite Flux to Earth During the Past 500 Million Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmitz, B.

2017-12-01

Almost nothing is known about the variations through deep time in the types of meteorites arriving at Earth. In an ongoing project we are searching ancient sediments from ten different time periods through the Phanerozoic for relict extraterrestrial spinel grains from micrometeorites (Schmitz, 2013). Samples, 300-1500 kg large, of slowly formed pelagic limestone are dissolved in acids leaving a residue of extraterrestrial spinels. The time periods studied include the middle Cambrian, Ordovician before and after the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body, late Silurian, late Devonian, middle Jurassic, early and late Cretaceous, early Paleocene and late Eocene. The approach builds on complex methodological considerations and a thorough understanding also of the spinel fraction in recent meteorites is necessary. In order to obtain some insights into the changes in the meteorite flux carefully calibrated analyses of the isotopic and elemental composition of the recovered spinel grains as well as consistent data treatment is required for the different time windows. Our results indicate that the background meteorite flux has changed significantly through the Phanerozoic. The results so far suggest that there may have been a gradual long-term (on the order of hundred million years) turnover in the meteorite flux from dominance of achondrites in the early Phanerozoic to ordinary chondrites in the late Phanerozoic interrupted by short-term (a few million years) meteorite cascades from single asteroid breakup events. This scenario may change, however, as results from additional time windows emerge. B. Schmitz (2013) Extraterrestrial spinels and the astronomical perspective on Earth's geological record and evolution of life: Chemie der Erde 73:117-145.

A 365-Million-Year-Old Freshwater Community Reveals Morphological and Ecological Stasis in Branchiopod Crustaceans.

PubMed

Gueriau, Pierre; Rabet, Nicolas; Clément, Gaël; Lagebro, Linda; Vannier, Jean; Briggs, Derek E G; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Olive, Sébastien; Béthoux, Olivier

2016-02-08

Branchiopod crustaceans are represented by fairy, tadpole, and clam shrimps (Anostraca, Notostraca, Laevicaudata, Spinicaudata), which typically inhabit temporary freshwater bodies, and water fleas (Cladoceromorpha), which live in all kinds of freshwater and occasionally marine environments [1, 2]. The earliest branchiopods occur in the Cambrian, where they are represented by complete body fossils from Sweden such as Rehbachiella kinnekullensis [3] and isolated mandibles preserved as small carbonaceous fossils [4-6] from Canada. The earliest known continental branchiopods are associated with hot spring environments [7] represented by the Early Devonian Rhynie Chert of Scotland (410 million years ago) and include possible stem-group or crown-group Anostraca, Notostraca, and clam shrimps or Cladoceromorpha [8-10], which differ morphologically from their modern counterparts [1, 2, 11]. Here we report the discovery of an ephemeral pool branchiopod community from the 365-million-year-old Strud locality of Belgium. It is characterized by new anostracans and spinicaudatans, closely resembling extant species, and the earliest notostracan, Strudops goldenbergi [12]. These branchiopods released resting eggs into the sediment in a manner similar to their modern representatives [1, 2]. We infer that this reproductive strategy was critical to overcoming environmental constraints such as seasonal desiccation imposed by living on land. The pioneer colonization of ephemeral freshwater pools by branchiopods in the Devonian was followed by remarkable ecological and morphological stasis that persists to the present day. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures.

PubMed

Nutman, Allen P; Bennett, Vickie C; Friend, Clark R L; Van Kranendonk, Martin J; Chivas, Allan R

2016-09-22

Biological activity is a major factor in Earth's chemical cycles, including facilitating CO 2 sequestration and providing climate feedbacks. Thus a key question in Earth's evolution is when did life arise and impact hydrosphere-atmosphere-lithosphere chemical cycles? Until now, evidence for the oldest life on Earth focused on debated stable isotopic signatures of 3,800-3,700 million year (Myr)-old metamorphosed sedimentary rocks and minerals from the Isua supracrustal belt (ISB), southwest Greenland. Here we report evidence for ancient life from a newly exposed outcrop of 3,700-Myr-old metacarbonate rocks in the ISB that contain 1-4-cm-high stromatolites-macroscopically layered structures produced by microbial communities. The ISB stromatolites grew in a shallow marine environment, as indicated by seawater-like rare-earth element plus yttrium trace element signatures of the metacarbonates, and by interlayered detrital sedimentary rocks with cross-lamination and storm-wave generated breccias. The ISB stromatolites predate by 220 Myr the previous most convincing and generally accepted multidisciplinary evidence for oldest life remains in the 3,480-Myr-old Dresser Formation of the Pilbara Craton, Australia. The presence of the ISB stromatolites demonstrates the establishment of shallow marine carbonate production with biotic CO 2 sequestration by 3,700 million years ago (Ma), near the start of Earth's sedimentary record. A sophistication of life by 3,700 Ma is in accord with genetic molecular clock studies placing life's origin in the Hadean eon (>4,000 Ma).

Measurement of one-way velocity of light and light-year

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Shao-Guang

For space science and astronomy the fundamentality of one-way velocity of light (OWVL) is selfevident. The measurement of OWVL (distance / interval) and the clock synchronization with light-signal transfer make a logical circulation. This means that OWVL could not be directly measured but only come indirectly from astronomical method (Romer's Io eclipse and Bradley's sidereal aberration). Furthermore, the light-year by definitional OWVL and the trigonometry distance with AU are also un-measurable. In this report two methods of clock synchronization to solve this problem were proposed: The arriving-time difference of longitudinal-transverse wave (Ts - Tp) or ordinary-extraordinary light (Te - To) is measured by single clock at one end of a dual-speed transmission-line, the signal transmission-delay (from sending-end time Tx to receiving-end time Tp or To) calculated with wave-speed ratio is: (Tp -Tx) = (Ts -Tp) / ((Vp / Vs) - 1) or: (To -Tx) = (Te - To) / ((Vo / Ve ) - 1), where (Vp / Vs) = (E / k) 1/2 is Yang's / shear elastic-modulus ratio obtained by comparing two strains at same stress, (Vo / Ve) = (ne / no) is extraordinary/ordinary light refractive-index ratio obtained by comparing two deflection-angles. Then, two clocks at transmission-line two ends can be synchronized directly to measure the one-way velocity of light and light-year, which work as one earthquakestation with single clock measures first-shake-time and the distance to epicenter. The readings Na and Nb of two counters Ca and Cb with distance L are transferred into a computer C by two leads with transmission-delay Tac and Tbc respectively. The computer progressing subtraction operation exports steady value: (Nb - Na) = f (Ta - Tb ) + f (Tac - Tbc ), where f is the frequency of light-wave always passing Ca and Cb, Ta and Tb are the count-start time of Ca and Cb respectively. From the transmission-delay possess the spatial translational and rotational invariability, the computer exports steady value

Portrait of Distant Planets

NASA Image and Video Library

2010-04-14

This image taken with the Palomar Observatory Hale Telescope, shows the light from three planets orbiting a star 120 light-years away. The planets star, called HR8799, is located at the spot marked with an X.

Ancestral synteny shared between distantly-related plant species from the asterid (Coffea canephora and Solanum Sp.) and rosid (Vitis vinifera) clades

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Coffee trees (Rubiaceae) and tomato (Solanaceae) belong to the Asterid clade, while grapevine (Vitaceae) belongs to the Rosid clade. Coffee and tomato separated from grapevine 125 million years ago, while coffee and tomato diverged 83-89 million years ago. These long periods of divergent evolution should have permitted the genomes to reorganize significantly. So far, very few comparative mappings have been performed between very distantly related species belonging to different clades. We report the first multiple comparison between species from Asterid and Rosid clades, to examine both macro-and microsynteny relationships. Results Thanks to a set of 867 COSII markers, macrosynteny was detected between coffee, tomato and grapevine. While coffee and tomato genomes share 318 orthologous markers and 27 conserved syntenic segments (CSSs), coffee and grapevine also share a similar number of syntenic markers and CSSs: 299 and 29 respectively. Despite large genome macrostructure reorganization, several large chromosome segments showed outstanding macrosynteny shedding new insights into chromosome evolution between Asterids and Rosids. We also analyzed a sequence of 174 kb containing the ovate gene, conserved in a syntenic block between coffee, tomato and grapevine that showed a high-level of microstructure conservation. A higher level of conservation was observed between coffee and grapevine, both woody and long life-cycle plants, than between coffee and tomato. Out of 16 coffee genes of this syntenic segment, 7 and 14 showed complete synteny between coffee and tomato or grapevine, respectively. Conclusions These results show that significant conservation is found between distantly related species from the Asterid (Coffea canephora and Solanum sp.) and Rosid (Vitis vinifera) clades, at the genome macrostructure and microstructure levels. At the ovate locus, conservation did not decline in relation to increasing phylogenetic distance, suggesting that the time

100-million-year dynasty of giant planktivorous bony fishes in the Mesozoic seas.

PubMed

Friedman, Matt; Shimada, Kenshu; Martin, Larry D; Everhart, Michael J; Liston, Jeff; Maltese, Anthony; Triebold, Michael

2010-02-19

Large-bodied suspension feeders (planktivores), which include the most massive animals to have ever lived, are conspicuously absent from Mesozoic marine environments. The only clear representatives of this trophic guild in the Mesozoic have been an enigmatic and apparently short-lived Jurassic group of extinct pachycormid fishes. Here, we report several new examples of these giant bony fishes from Asia, Europe, and North America. These fossils provide the first detailed anatomical information on this poorly understood clade and extend its range from the lower Middle Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous, showing that this group persisted for more than 100 million years. Modern large-bodied, planktivorous vertebrates diversified after the extinction of pachycormids at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, which is consistent with an opportunistic refilling of vacated ecospace.

Judging near and distant virtue and vice ☆

PubMed Central

Eyal, Tal; Liberman, Nira; Trope, Yaacov

2009-01-01

We propose that people judge immoral acts as more offensive and moral acts as more virtuous when the acts are psychologically distant than near. This is because people construe more distant situations in terms of moral principles, rather than attenuating situation-specific considerations. Results of four studies support these predictions. Study 1 shows that more temporally distant transgressions (e.g., eating one's dead dog) are construed in terms of moral principles rather than contextual information. Studies 2 and 3 further show that morally offensive actions are judged more severely when imagined from a more distant temporal (Study 2) or social (Study 3) perspective. Finally, Study 4 shows that moral acts (e.g., adopting a disabled child) are judged more positively from temporal distance. The findings suggest that people more readily apply their moral principles to distant rather than proximal behaviors. PMID:19554217

Photographer : JPL Range : 6 Million km. ( 3.72 million miles ) This photograph of Jupiter, shot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 6 Million km. ( 3.72 million miles ) This photograph of Jupiter, shot from Voyager 2, shows the equator to the southern polar latitudes, near the Great Red Spot. The white oval that appears here is different from the one seen in a similiar position when voyager 1 passed years before. The region of white clouds now extends from east of The Red Spot and around it's northern boundary, preventing small cloud vortices from circling the feature. The disturbed region west of The Red Spot has also changed since Voyager1. It shows more small scale structure and cloud vortices being formed out of the wave structures.

Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nutman, Allen P.; Bennett, Vickie C.; Friend, Clark R. L.; van Kranendonk, Martin J.; Chivas, Allan R.

2016-09-01

Biological activity is a major factor in Earth’s chemical cycles, including facilitating CO2 sequestration and providing climate feedbacks. Thus a key question in Earth’s evolution is when did life arise and impact hydrosphere-atmosphere-lithosphere chemical cycles? Until now, evidence for the oldest life on Earth focused on debated stable isotopic signatures of 3,800-3,700 million year (Myr)-old metamorphosed sedimentary rocks and minerals from the Isua supracrustal belt (ISB), southwest Greenland. Here we report evidence for ancient life from a newly exposed outcrop of 3,700-Myr-old metacarbonate rocks in the ISB that contain 1-4-cm-high stromatolites—macroscopically layered structures produced by microbial communities. The ISB stromatolites grew in a shallow marine environment, as indicated by seawater-like rare-earth element plus yttrium trace element signatures of the metacarbonates, and by interlayered detrital sedimentary rocks with cross-lamination and storm-wave generated breccias. The ISB stromatolites predate by 220 Myr the previous most convincing and generally accepted multidisciplinary evidence for oldest life remains in the 3,480-Myr-old Dresser Formation of the Pilbara Craton, Australia. The presence of the ISB stromatolites demonstrates the establishment of shallow marine carbonate production with biotic CO2 sequestration by 3,700 million years ago (Ma), near the start of Earth’s sedimentary record. A sophistication of life by 3,700 Ma is in accord with genetic molecular clock studies placing life’s origin in the Hadean eon (>4,000 Ma).

Collaborative project optimises LED lighting.

PubMed

Baillie, Jonathan

2014-05-01

Early 2013 saw Brandon Medical, which designs and manufactures equipment ranging from operating theatre lighting to medical AV and control systems, celebrate '20 years of innovation and growth', with a move to a new pounds 2 million, 50,000 ft2 headquarters in Morley near Leeds, twice the size of its former premises. A milestone year then for the entrepreneurial Yorkshire company, but, as HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, discovered, when he met with joint MD, Graeme Hall, 2014 should prove an equally exciting one for the medical technology specialist, with the launch of several new 'field-leading' medical lighting products designed for use in operating theatres and minor examination settings.

Distant Galactic Halo Substructures Observed by the Palomar Transient Factory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sesar, Branimir

2013-01-01

Characterization of Galactic halo substructures is important as their kinematic and chemical properties help constrain the properties of the Galactic dark matter halo, the formation history of the Milky Way, and the galaxy formation process in general. The best practical choice for finding distant halo substructures are pulsating RR Lyrae stars, due to their intrinsic brightness (M_V = 0.6 mag) and distinct light curves. I will present kinematic and chemical properties of two distant halo substructures that were traced using RR Lyrae stars observed by the Palomar Transient Factory. One of these substructures, located at 90 kpc from the Sun in the Cancer constellation, consists of two groups of RR Lyrae stars moving away from the Galaxy at ~80 and ~20 km/s, respectively. The second substructure is located at ~65 kpc from the Sun in the Hercules constellation. The kinematics of RR Lyrae stars tracing this substructure suggest a presence of 2 or 3 stellar streams extending in the similar direction on the sky. Due to their spatial extent, both of these substructures are clearly disrupted and would be very difficult to detect using tradiitonal techniques such as the color-magnitude diagram filtering.

80 Million Years of Prolonged and Localized Fluid flow on Shatsky Rise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vermillion, K. B.; Koppers, A.; Heaton, D. E.; Harris, R. N.

2017-12-01

Shatsky Rise is a large igneous province (LIP) in the northwest Pacific Ocean, which formed at an unstable ridge-ridge-ridge (RRR) triple junction at the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. High resolution 40Ar/39Ar incremental heating analyses of samples from TAMU and Ori Massif, the two largest volcanic features on Shatsky Rise, yield mixing ages between fresh plagioclase and sericite alteration phases. Mixing ages range from several million years younger to 75 Myr younger than the eruption ages of 147 (TAMU Massif) and 140 Ma (Ori Massif). Sericitic alteration in plagioclase from IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) Expedition 324 Holes U1347A, U1349A, U1350A and U1346A on TAMU, Ori and Shirshov Massifs suggests pervasive fluid flow throughout Shatsky Rise in the first million years after eruption. Sericitic alteration in plagioclase from ODP (Ocean Drilling Program) Hole 1231B on the flanks of the TAMU Massif also suggests fluid flow. However, localized and very late stage fluid flow is found in the deepest highly altered pillow basalt sequence (Unit IV) of IODP Hole U1350A, where sericitic plagioclase samples is dated to be 65.8, 70.2 and 82.1 Ma. Since the sericite 40Ar/39Ar ages obtained are a mixture between fresh plagioclase and sericite alteration in the plagioclase, we estimate the true age of alteration, using the Verati and Jourdan (Geological Society, London, 2015) mixing model, showing that in IODP Hole U1350A (140 Ma eruption age) the sericite formed around 127 Ma or much later between 85 and 60 Ma. Thermal modeling suggests that throughout Shatsky Rise sustained fluid flow may occur and could be responsible for sericite alteration up to approximately 22 Myr after eruption. During this initial Shatsky Rise cool down phase, the natural geothermal gradient remains high enough to form sericite at temperatures of 100-215 °C. However, the same model shows that the conductive geothermal gradient alone does not sustain enough heat to form sericite 80 Myr

Potency of energy saving and emission reduction from lighting system in residential sector of Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambarita, H.

2018-03-01

The Government of Indonesia (GoI) has a strong commitment to the target of decreasing energy intensity and reducing Greenhouse gas emissions. One of the significant solutions to reach the target is increasing energy efficiency in the lighting system in the residential sector. The objective of this paper is twofold, to estimate the potency of energy saving and emission reduction from lighting in the residential sector. Literature related to the lighting system in Indonesia has been reviewed to provide sufficient data for the estimation of the energy saving and emission reduction. The results show that the in the year 2016, a total of 95.33 TWh of nationally produced electricity is used in the residential sector. This is equal to 44% of total produced electricity. The number of costumers is 64.78 million houses. The average number of lamps and average wattage of lamps used in Indonesia are 8.35 points and 13.8 W, respectively. The number of lighting and percentage of electricity used for lighting in the residential sector in Indonesia are 20.03 TWh (21.02 %) and 497 million lamps, respectively. The projection shows that in the year 2026 the total energy for lighting and number of lamps in the residential sector are 25.05 TWh and 619 million, respectively. By promoting the present technology of high efficient lamps (LED), the potency of energy saving and emission reduction in 2026 are 2.6 TWh and 2.1 million tons CO2eq, respectively.

Selections from 2017: Hubble Survey Explores Distant Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-12-01

Editors note:In these last two weeks of 2017, well be looking at a few selections that we havent yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded paperspublished in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume in January.CANDELS Multi-Wavelength Catalogs: Source Identification and Photometry in the CANDELS COSMOSSurvey FieldPublished January2017Main takeaway:A publication led byHooshang Nayyeri(UC Irvine and UC Riverside) early this year details acatalog of sources built using the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey(CANDELS), a survey carried out by cameras on board the Hubble Space Telescope. The catalogliststhe properties of 38,000 distant galaxies visiblewithin the COSMOS field, a two-square-degree equatorial field explored in depthto answer cosmological questions.Why its interesting:Illustration showing the three-dimensional map of the dark matter distribution in theCOSMOS field. [Adapted from NASA/ESA/R. Massey(California Institute of Technology)]The depth and resolution of the CANDELS observations areuseful for addressingseveral major science goals, including the following:Studying the most distant objects in the universe at the epoch of reionization in the cosmic dawn.Understanding galaxy formation and evolution during the peak epoch of star formation in the cosmic high noon.Studying star formation from deep ultravioletobservations and studying cosmology from supernova observations.Why CANDELS is a major endeavor:CANDELS isthe largest multi-cycle treasury program ever approved on the Hubble Space Telescope using over 900 orbits between 2010 and 2013 withtwo cameras on board the spacecraftto study galaxy formation and evolution throughout cosmic time. The CANDELS images are all publicly available, and the new catalogrepresents an enormous source of information about distant objectsin our universe.CitationH. Nayyeri et al 2017 ApJS 228 7. doi:10.3847/1538-4365/228/1/7

Probing Signatures of a Distant Planet around the Young T-Tauri Star CI Tau Hosting a Possible Hot Jupiter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konishi, Mihoko; Hashimoto, Jun; Hori, Yasunori

2018-06-01

We search for signatures of a distant planet around the two million-year-old classical T-Tauri star CI Tau hosting a hot-Jupiter candidate ({M}{{p}}\\sin i∼ 8.1 {M}Jupiter}) in an eccentric orbit (e ∼ 0.3). To probe the existence of an outer perturber, we reanalyzed 1.3 mm dust continuum observations of the protoplanetary disk around CI Tau obtained by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). We found a gap structure at ∼0.″8 in CI Tau’s disk. Our visibility fitting assuming an axisymmetric surface brightness profile suggested that the gap is located at a deprojected radius of 104.5 ± 1.6 au and has a width of 36.9 ± 2.9 au. The brightness temperature around the gap was calculated to be ∼2.3 K lower than that of the ambient disk. Gap-opening mechanisms such as secular gravitational instability (GI) and dust trapping can explain the gap morphology in the CI Tau disk. The scenario that an unseen planet created the observed gap structure cannot be ruled out, although the coexistence of an eccentric hot Jupiter and a distant planet around the young CI Tau would be challenging for gravitational scattering scenarios. The mass of the planet was estimated to be between ∼0.25 M Jupiter and ∼0.8 M Jupiter from the gap width and depth ({0.41}-0.06+0.04) in the modeled surface brightness image, which is lower than the current detection limits of high-contrast direct imaging. The young classical T-Tauri CI Tau may be a unique system for exploring the existence of a potential distant planet as well as the origin of an eccentric hot Jupiter.

Photographer : JPL Range :12.2 million kilometers (7.6 million miles) The view in this photo shows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range :12.2 million kilometers (7.6 million miles) The view in this photo shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot emerging from the five-hour Jovian night. One of the three bright, oval clouds which were observed to form approximately 40 years ago can be seen immediately below the Red Spot. Most of the other features appearing in this view are too small to be seen clearly from Earth. The color picture was assembled from three black and white photos in the Image Processing Lab at JPL.

Five Miles Until Friday? Addressing Misunderstandings of Light-Years

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Katrina; Brown, Todd; Hardy, Wendy

2015-01-01

In this fourth and fifth grade activity, students become comfortable with the concept that light-years are a measure of distance, not time, and discover how we are looking back in time when we look at stars. Since the enormous distances in space can make astronomical studies even more confusing, students explore the meaning of a light-year by…

International Year of Light in Michigan: outdoor holography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nees, John; Aku-Leh, Cynthia; Jones, Tim; Sala, Anca L.; Smith, Arlene; Dreyer, Elizabeth F. C.

2016-09-01

Outdoor holography is an activity created by the Michigan Light Project during the International Year of Light. Traditional holography is done in dark and quiet rooms. Using a kit from LitiHolo.com, we designed a way to make simple holograms outside in a noisy festival environment.

The Recovery Act is "Lighting Up" the streets of Philadelphia

ScienceCinema

Nutter, Michael; Gajewski, Katherine; Russell, Toby; Williams, Doug; Best, DeLain

2018-02-13

The Philadelphia Streets Department is converting 58,000 yellow and green traffic signals and will replace approximately 27,000 red LED lights that have come to the end of their useful life. The project will use approximately $3 million in EECBG funds, matched with $3 million in PECO funding, and will save the city approximately $1 million in electric costs each year. For more information on Recovery Act projects funded by the Department of Energy in Pennsylvania: http://www.energy.gov/recovery/pa.htm

Photo-acoustic and video-acoustic methods for sensing distant sound sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slater, Dan; Kozacik, Stephen; Kelmelis, Eric

2017-05-01

Long range telescopic video imagery of distant terrestrial scenes, aircraft, rockets and other aerospace vehicles can be a powerful observational tool. But what about the associated acoustic activity? A new technology, Remote Acoustic Sensing (RAS), may provide a method to remotely listen to the acoustic activity near these distant objects. Local acoustic activity sometimes weakly modulates the ambient illumination in a way that can be remotely sensed. RAS is a new type of microphone that separates an acoustic transducer into two spatially separated components: 1) a naturally formed in situ acousto-optic modulator (AOM) located within the distant scene and 2) a remote sensing readout device that recovers the distant audio. These two elements are passively coupled over long distances at the speed of light by naturally occurring ambient light energy or other electromagnetic fields. Stereophonic, multichannel and acoustic beam forming are all possible using RAS techniques and when combined with high-definition video imagery it can help to provide a more cinema like immersive viewing experience. A practical implementation of a remote acousto-optic readout device can be a challenging engineering problem. The acoustic influence on the optical signal is generally weak and often with a strong bias term. The optical signal is further degraded by atmospheric seeing turbulence. In this paper, we consider two fundamentally different optical readout approaches: 1) a low pixel count photodiode based RAS photoreceiver and 2) audio extraction directly from a video stream. Most of our RAS experiments to date have used the first method for reasons of performance and simplicity. But there are potential advantages to extracting audio directly from a video stream. These advantages include the straight forward ability to work with multiple AOMs (useful for acoustic beam forming), simpler optical configurations, and a potential ability to use certain preexisting video recordings. However

Two Distantly Spaced Basic Patches in the Flexible Domain of Huntingtin-Interacting Protein 1 (HIP1) Are Essential for the Binding of Clathrin Light Chain.

PubMed

Ybe, Joel A; Clegg, Mary E; Illingworth, Melissa; Gonzalez, Claire; Niu, Qian

2009-01-01

The interaction between HIP family proteins (HIP1 and HIP12/1R) and clathrin is fundamental to endocytosis. We used circular dichroism (CD) to study the stability of an HIP1 subfragment (aa468-530) that is splayed open. CD thermal melts show HIP1 468-530 is only stable at low temperatures, but this HIP1 fragment contains a structural unit that does not melt out even at 83°C. We then created HIP1 mutants to probe our hypothesis that a short hydrophobic path in the opened region is the binding site for clathrin light chain. We found that the binding of hub/LCb was sensitive to mutating two distantly separated basic residues (K474 and K494). The basic patches marked by K474 and K494 are conserved in HIP12/1R. The lack of conservation in sla2p (S. cerevisiae), HIP1 from D. melanogaster, and HIP1 homolog ZK370.3 from C. elegans implies the binding of HIP1 and HIP1 homologs to clathrin light chain may be different in these organisms.

Two Distantly Spaced Basic Patches in the Flexible Domain of Huntingtin-Interacting Protein 1 (HIP1) Are Essential for the Binding of Clathrin Light Chain

PubMed Central

Ybe, Joel A.; Clegg, Mary E.; Illingworth, Melissa; Gonzalez, Claire; Niu, Qian

2009-01-01

The interaction between HIP family proteins (HIP1 and HIP12/1R) and clathrin is fundamental to endocytosis. We used circular dichroism (CD) to study the stability of an HIP1 subfragment (aa468-530) that is splayed open. CD thermal melts show HIP1 468-530 is only stable at low temperatures, but this HIP1 fragment contains a structural unit that does not melt out even at 83°C. We then created HIP1 mutants to probe our hypothesis that a short hydrophobic path in the opened region is the binding site for clathrin light chain. We found that the binding of hub/LCb was sensitive to mutating two distantly separated basic residues (K474 and K494). The basic patches marked by K474 and K494 are conserved in HIP12/1R. The lack of conservation in sla2p (S. cerevisiae), HIP1 from D. melanogaster, and HIP1 homolog ZK370.3 from C. elegans implies the binding of HIP1 and HIP1 homologs to clathrin light chain may be different in these organisms. PMID:22820750

Astronomy in the International Year of Light 2015

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, Constance E.; Pompea, Stephen M.; Green, Richard F.; Fienberg, Richard Tresch; Seitzer, Patrick

2014-06-01

In December 2013 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies (IYL 2015), recognizing “the importance of raising global awareness of how light-based technologies promote sustainable development and provide solutions to global challenges in energy, education, agriculture, and health.” John Dudley, president of the European Physical Society and chair of the IYL 2015 Steering Committee, explains: “An International Year of Light is a tremendous opportunity to ensure that policymakers are made aware of the problem-solving potential of light technology. Photonics provides cost-effective solutions to challenges in so many different areas: energy, sustainable development, climate change, health, communications, and agriculture. For example, innovative lighting solutions reduce energy consumption and environmental impact, while minimizing light pollution so that we can all appreciate the beauty of the universe in a dark sky.”IYL 2015 is bringing together many different stakeholders, including scientific societies and unions, educational and research institutions, technology platforms, non-profit organizations, and private-sector partners to promote and celebrate the significance of light and its applications during 2015.The AAS and the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which were heavily involved in the International Year of Astronomy in 2009, will play a role in IYL 2015 — especially since the AAS will host the 29th General Assembly of the IAU in August 2015. Other US-based organizations, such as NOAO, are organizing efforts jointly with IAU and AAS members to form a cornerstone. Discussion for this presentation will center on the IYL cornerstone project in astronomy, dark-skies awareness, and optics and the related projects and events being formed, as well as the regional, national, and international committees and contact points being established to ensure that all nations of the world

Gene Transfers Between Distantly Related Organisms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doolittle, Russell F.

2003-01-01

With the completion of numerous microbial genome sequences, reports of individual gene transfers between distantly related prokaryotes have become commonplace. On the other hand, transfers between prokaryotes and eukaryotes still excite the imagination. Many of these claims may be premature, but some are certainly valid. In this chapter, the kinds of supporting data needed to propose transfers between distantly related organisms and cite some interesting examples are considered.

The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years.

PubMed

Trilling, David E

2016-01-01

Data from the New Horizons mission to Pluto show no craters on Sputnik Planum down to the detection limit (2 km for low resolution data, 625 m for high resolution data). The number of small Kuiper Belt Objects that should be impacting Pluto is known to some degree from various astronomical surveys. We combine these geological and telescopic observations to make an order of magnitude estimate that the surface age of Sputnik Planum must be less than 10 million years. This maximum surface age is surprisingly young and implies that this area of Pluto must be undergoing active resurfacing, presumably through some cryo-geophysical process. We discuss three possible resurfacing mechanisms and the implications of each one for Pluto's physical properties.

The Surface Age of Sputnik Planum, Pluto, Must Be Less than 10 Million Years

PubMed Central

Trilling, David E.

2016-01-01

Data from the New Horizons mission to Pluto show no craters on Sputnik Planum down to the detection limit (2 km for low resolution data, 625 m for high resolution data). The number of small Kuiper Belt Objects that should be impacting Pluto is known to some degree from various astronomical surveys. We combine these geological and telescopic observations to make an order of magnitude estimate that the surface age of Sputnik Planum must be less than 10 million years. This maximum surface age is surprisingly young and implies that this area of Pluto must be undergoing active resurfacing, presumably through some cryo-geophysical process. We discuss three possible resurfacing mechanisms and the implications of each one for Pluto’s physical properties. PMID:26790001

Distant Metastasis Risk Stratification for Patients Undergoing Curative Resection Followed by Adjuvant Chemoradiation for Extrahepatic Bile Duct Cancer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Kyubo; Chie, Eui Kyu, E-mail: ekchie93@snu.ac.kr; Jang, Jin-Young

2012-09-01

Purpose: To analyze the prognostic factors predicting distant metastasis in patients undergoing adjuvant chemoradiation for extrahepatic bile duct (EHBD) cancer. Methods and Materials: Between January 1995 and August 2006, 166 patients with EHBD cancer underwent resection with curative intent, followed by adjuvant chemoradiation. There were 120 males and 46 females, and median age was 61 years (range, 34-86). Postoperative radiotherapy was delivered to tumor bed and regional lymph nodes (median dose, 40 Gy; range, 34-56 Gy). A total of 157 patients also received fluoropyrimidine chemotherapy as a radiosensitizer, and fluoropyrimidine-based maintenance chemotherapy was administered to 127 patients. Median follow-up durationmore » was 29 months. Results: The treatment failed for 97 patients, and the major pattern of failure was distant metastasis (76 patients, 78.4%). The 5-year distant metastasis-free survival rate was 49.4%. The most common site of distant failure was the liver (n = 36). On multivariate analysis, hilar tumor, tumor size {>=}2 cm, involved lymph node, and poorly differentiated tumor were associated with inferior distant metastasis-free survival (p = 0.0348, 0.0754, 0.0009, and 0.0078, respectively), whereas T stage was not (p = 0.8081). When patients were divided into four groups based on these risk factors, the 5-year distant metastasis-free survival rates for patients with 0, 1, 2, and 3 risk factors were 86.4%, 59.9%, 32.5%, and 0%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Despite maintenance chemotherapy, distant metastasis was the major pattern of failure in patients undergoing adjuvant chemoradiation for EHBD cancer after resection with curative intent. Intensified chemotherapy is warranted to improve the treatment outcome, especially in those with multiple risk factors.« less

Most Distant X-Ray Jet Yet Discovered Provides Clues To Big Bang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-11-01

The most distant jet ever observed was discovered in an image of a quasar made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Extending more than 100,000 light years from the supermassive black hole powering the quasar, the jet of high-energy particles provides astronomers with information about the intensity of the cosmic microwave background radiation 12 billion years ago. The discovery of this jet was a surprise to the astronomers, according to team members. Astronomers had previously known the distant quasar GB1508+5714 to be a powerful X-ray source, but there had been no indication of any complex structure or a jet. "This jet is especially significant because it allows us to probe the cosmic background radiation 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang," said Aneta Siemiginowska of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., lead author of a report on this research in the November 20th Astrophysical Journal Letters. Prior to this discovery, the most distant confirmed X-ray jet corresponded to a time about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. Quasars are thought to be galaxies that harbor an active central supermassive black hole fueled by infalling gas and stars. This accretion process is often observed to be accompanied by the generation of powerful high-energy jets. Radio image of GB1508 Radio Image of GB1508 As the electrons in the jet fly away from the quasar at near the speed of light, they move through the sea of cosmic background radiation left over from the hot early phase of the universe. When a fast-moving electron collides with one of these background photons, it can boost the photon's energy up into the X-ray band. The X-ray brightness of the jet depends on the power in the electron beam and the intensity of the background radiation. "Everyone assumes that the background radiation will change in a predictable way with time, but it is important to have this check on the predictions," said Siemiginowska. "This jet is hopefully just the

Five Year Flashlight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

An ultra-reliable flashlight, initially developed for rescue signaling and utility use by NASA astronauts and military aircrews, has attracted a broad commercial market. Called the Five Year Light, it has a shelf life at least that long because there is no power drain on the batteries when the flashlight is not in use. The NASA version of the light was developed under contract with Langley Research Center by ACR Electronics, Inc., now known as the Chromalloy Electronics Division of Chromalloy American Corporation, Hollywood, Florida. NASA wanted a light that had long shelf life and assured reliability in case it was needed in an emergency. Reliability was designed into the flashlight by means of a unique switch. Instead of the customary thumb-button, the Five Year Light is turned on by rotating its collar to make contact with the battery terminal; the turning motion wipes away any corrosion that might be present and makes contact virtually certain. The Five Year Light available commercially is a repackaged version of the NASA light. It is sold for car, home, industrial, police, firefighting, recreational and a variety of other uses, and sales have topped two million units.

A one-million-year-old Homo cranium from the Danakil (Afar) Depression of Eritrea.

PubMed

Abbate, E; Albianelli, A; Azzaroli, A; Benvenuti, M; Tesfamariam, B; Bruni, P; Cipriani, N; Clarke, R J; Ficcarelli, G; Macchiarelli, R; Napoleone, G; Papini, M; Rook, L; Sagri, M; Tecle, T M; Torre, D; Villa, I

1998-06-04

One of the most contentious topics in the study of human evolution is that of the time, place and mode of origin of Homo sapiens. The discovery in the Northern Danakil (Afar) Depression, Eritrea, of a well-preserved Homo cranium with a mixture of characters typical of H. erectus and H. sapiens contributes significantly to this debate. The cranium was found in a succession of fluvio-deltaic and lacustrine deposits and is associated with a rich mammalian fauna of early to early-middle Pleistocene age. A magnetostratigraphic survey indicates two reversed and two normal magnetozones. The layer in which the cranium was found is near the top of the lower normal magnetozone, which is identified as the Jaramillo subchron. Consequently, the human remains can be dated at approximately 1 million years before present.

Elderly postmenopausal patients with breast cancer are at increased risk for distant recurrence: a tamoxifen exemestane adjuvant multinational study analysis.

PubMed

van de Water, Willemien; Seynaeve, Caroline; Bastiaannet, Esther; Markopoulos, Christos; Jones, Steve E; Rea, Daniel; Hasenburg, Annette; Putter, Hein; Hille, Elysée T M; Paridaens, Robert; de Craen, Anton J M; Westendorp, Rudi G J; van de Velde, Cornelis J H; Liefers, Gerrit-Jan

2013-01-01

For postmenopausal patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer, outcome is worse with increasing age at diagnosis. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of breast cancer recurrence (locoregional and distant), and contralateral breast cancer by age at diagnosis. Patients enrolled in the Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational (TEAM) trial were included. Primary endpoints were locoregional recurrence, distant recurrence, and contralateral breast cancer. Age at diagnosis was categorized as younger than 65 years, 65-74 years, and 75 years or older. Overall, 9,766 patients were included, of which 5,349 were younger than 65 years (reference group), 3,060 were 65-74 years, and 1,357 were 75 years or older. With increasing age, a decreased administration of radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery (94%, 92%, and 88%, respectively) and adjuvant chemotherapy (51%, 23%, and 5%, respectively) was observed. Risk of distant recurrence increased with age at diagnosis; multivariable hazard ratio for patients aged 65-74 years was 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00-1.44), hazard ratio for patients aged 75 years or older was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.08-1.79). Risks of locoregional recurrence and contralateral breast cancer were not significantly different across age groups. Elderly patients with breast cancer were at increased risk for distant recurrence. Other studies have shown that the risk of distant recurrence is mainly affected by adjuvant systemic therapy. All TEAM patients received adjuvant endocrine treatment; however, chemotherapy was administered less often in elderly patients. These findings are suggestive for consideration of chemotherapy in relatively fit elderly breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive disease.

Elderly Postmenopausal Patients With Breast Cancer Are at Increased Risk for Distant Recurrence: A Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational Study Analysis

PubMed Central

van de Water, Willemien; Seynaeve, Caroline; Bastiaannet, Esther; Markopoulos, Christos; Jones, Steve E.; Rea, Daniel; Hasenburg, Annette; Putter, Hein; Hille, Elysée T.M.; Paridaens, Robert; de Craen, Anton J.M.; Westendorp, Rudi G.J.; Liefers, Gerrit-Jan

2013-01-01

Introduction. For postmenopausal patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer, outcome is worse with increasing age at diagnosis. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of breast cancer recurrence (locoregional and distant), and contralateral breast cancer by age at diagnosis. Methods. Patients enrolled in the Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multinational (TEAM) trial were included. Primary endpoints were locoregional recurrence, distant recurrence, and contralateral breast cancer. Age at diagnosis was categorized as younger than 65 years, 65–74 years, and 75 years or older. Results. Overall, 9,766 patients were included, of which 5,349 were younger than 65 years (reference group), 3,060 were 65–74 years, and 1,357 were 75 years or older. With increasing age, a decreased administration of radiotherapy after breast conserving surgery (94%, 92%, and 88%, respectively) and adjuvant chemotherapy (51%, 23%, and 5%, respectively) was observed. Risk of distant recurrence increased with age at diagnosis; multivariable hazard ratio for patients aged 65–74 years was 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00–1.44), hazard ratio for patients aged 75 years or older was 1.39 (95% CI: 1.08–1.79). Risks of locoregional recurrence and contralateral breast cancer were not significantly different across age groups. Conclusion. Elderly patients with breast cancer were at increased risk for distant recurrence. Other studies have shown that the risk of distant recurrence is mainly affected by adjuvant systemic therapy. All TEAM patients received adjuvant endocrine treatment; however, chemotherapy was administered less often in elderly patients. These findings are suggestive for consideration of chemotherapy in relatively fit elderly breast cancer patients with hormone-sensitive disease. PMID:23263290

Star from the Lizard Constellation Photobombs Hubble Observation

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

In space, being outshone is an occupational hazard. This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures a galaxy named NGC 7250. Despite being remarkable in its own right — it has bright bursts of star formation and recorded supernova explosions— it blends into the background somewhat thanks to the gloriously bright star hogging the limelight next to it. The bright object seen in this Hubble image is a single and little-studied star named TYC 3203-450-1, located in the constellation of Lacerta (The Lizard). The star is much closer than the much more distant galaxy. Only this way can a normal star outshine an entire galaxy, consisting of billions of stars. Astronomers studying distant objects call these stars “foreground stars” and they are often not very happy about them, as their bright light is contaminating the faint light from the more distant and interesting objects they actually want to study. In this case, TYC 3203-450-1 is million times closer than NGC 7250, which lies more than 45 million light-years away from us. If the star were the same distance from us as NGC 7250, it would hardly be visible in this image. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

The Lake Towuti Drilling Project: A New, 1-Million Year Record of Indo-Pacific Hydroclimate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Russell, J. M.; Bijaksana, S.; Vogel, H.; Melles, M.; Crowe, S.; Fajar, S. J.; Hasberg, A. K.; Ivory, S.; Kallmeyer, J.; Kelly, C. S.; Kirana, K. H.; Morlock, M.; Tamuntuan, G. H.; Wicaksono, S. A.

2015-12-01

­The Indo-Pacific region plays an integral role in the Earth's climate system. Changes in local insolation, greenhouse gas concentrations, ice volume, and local sea level are each hypothesized to exert a dominant control on Indo-Pacific hydroclimate variations through the Pleistocene, yet existing records from the region are generally short and exhibit fundamental differences in orbital-scale patterns that limit our understanding of the regional climate responses to these global forcings. New paleoclimate records spanning multiple glacial-interglacial cycles are therefore required to document the region's hydroclimatic response to the full range of global climate boundary conditions observed during the late Quaternary. Lake Towuti is located in central Indonesia and is the only known terrestrial sedimentary archive in the region that spans multiple glacial-interglacial cycles. From May - July, 2015, the Towuti Drilling Project, consisting of nearly 40 scientists from eight countries, recovered over 1,000 meters of new sediment core from Lake Towuti. This includes cores though the entire sediment column to bedrock, which likely provide a >1-million-year records of regional hydroclimate. On-site borehole and sediment core logging data document major shifts in sediment composition, including transitions from lake clays to peats, calcareous sediments, and gravels. These data show excellent agreement with major lithological transitions recorded in seismic reflection data, and indicate large changes in lake levels and hydroclimate through the late Quaternary. Prior work on Lake Towuti indicated a dominant control by global ice volume on regional hydroclimate, a hypothesis we aim to test through the analysis of these new cores. This presentation will review existing records from the region and show the first long geochemical and sedimentological records from Lake Towuti to understand orbital-scale hydrologic change during the last ~1 million years.

Terrestrial climate evolution in the Southwest Pacific over the past 30 million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prebble, Joseph G.; Reichgelt, Tammo; Mildenhall, Dallas C.; Greenwood, David R.; Raine, J. Ian; Kennedy, Elizabeth M.; Seebeck, Hannu C.

2017-02-01

A reconstruction of terrestrial temperature and precipitation for the New Zealand landmass over the past ∼30 million years is produced using pollen data from >2000 samples lodged in the New Zealand Fossil Record Electronic Database and modern climate data of nearest living relatives. The reconstruction reveals a warming trend through the late Oligocene to early Miocene, peak warmth in the middle Miocene, and stepwise cooling through the late Neogene. Whereas the regional signal in our reconstruction includes a ∼5-10° northward tectonic drift, as well as an increase in high altitude biomes due to late Neogene and Pliocene uplift of the Southern Alps, the pattern mimics inferred changes in global ice extent, which suggests that global drivers played a major role in shaping local vegetation. Importantly, seasonal temperature estimates indicate low seasonality during the middle Miocene, and that subsequent Neogene cooling was largely due to cooler winters. We suggest that this may reflect increased Subantarctic influence on New Zealand vegetation as the climate cooled.

Diversity as Opportunity: Insights from 600 Million Years of AHR Evolution.

PubMed

Hahn, Mark E; Karchner, Sibel I; Merson, Rebeka R

2017-02-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) was for many years of interest only to pharmacologists and toxicologists. However, this protein has fundamental roles in biology that are being revealed through studies in diverse animal species. The AHR is an ancient protein. AHR homologs exist in most major groups of modern bilaterian animals, including deuterostomes (chordates, hemichordates, echinoderms) and the two major clades of protostome invertebrates [ecdysozoans (e.g. arthropods and nematodes) and lophotrochozoans (e.g. molluscs and annelids)]. AHR homologs also have been identified in cnidarians such as the sea anemone Nematostella and in the genome of Trichoplax , a placozoan. Bilaterians, cnidarians, and placozoans form the clade Eumetazoa , whose last common ancestor lived approximately 600 million years ago (MYA). The presence of AHR homologs in modern representatives of all these groups indicates that the original eumetazoan animal possessed an AHR homolog. Studies in invertebrates and vertebrates reveal parallel functions of AHR in the development and function of sensory neural systems, suggesting that these may be ancestral roles. Vertebrate animals are characterized by the expansion and diversification of AHRs, via gene and genome duplications, from the ancestral protoAHR into at least five classes of AHR-like proteins: AHR, AHR1, AHR2, AHR3, and AHRR. The evolution of multiple AHRs in vertebrates coincided with the acquisition of high-affinity binding of halogenated and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and the emergence of adaptive functions involving regulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and roles in adaptive immunity. The existence of multiple AHRs may have facilitated subfunction partitioning and specialization of specific AHR types in some taxa. Additional research in diverse model and non-model species will continue to enrich our understanding of AHR and its pleiotropic roles in biology and toxicology.

Diversity as Opportunity: Insights from 600 Million Years of AHR Evolution

PubMed Central

Hahn, Mark E.; Karchner, Sibel I.; Merson, Rebeka R.

2017-01-01

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) was for many years of interest only to pharmacologists and toxicologists. However, this protein has fundamental roles in biology that are being revealed through studies in diverse animal species. The AHR is an ancient protein. AHR homologs exist in most major groups of modern bilaterian animals, including deuterostomes (chordates, hemichordates, echinoderms) and the two major clades of protostome invertebrates [ecdysozoans (e.g. arthropods and nematodes) and lophotrochozoans (e.g. molluscs and annelids)]. AHR homologs also have been identified in cnidarians such as the sea anemone Nematostella and in the genome of Trichoplax, a placozoan. Bilaterians, cnidarians, and placozoans form the clade Eumetazoa, whose last common ancestor lived approximately 600 million years ago (MYA). The presence of AHR homologs in modern representatives of all these groups indicates that the original eumetazoan animal possessed an AHR homolog. Studies in invertebrates and vertebrates reveal parallel functions of AHR in the development and function of sensory neural systems, suggesting that these may be ancestral roles. Vertebrate animals are characterized by the expansion and diversification of AHRs, via gene and genome duplications, from the ancestral protoAHR into at least five classes of AHR-like proteins: AHR, AHR1, AHR2, AHR3, and AHRR. The evolution of multiple AHRs in vertebrates coincided with the acquisition of high-affinity binding of halogenated and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and the emergence of adaptive functions involving regulation of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes and roles in adaptive immunity. The existence of multiple AHRs may have facilitated subfunction partitioning and specialization of specific AHR types in some taxa. Additional research in diverse model and non-model species will continue to enrich our understanding of AHR and its pleiotropic roles in biology and toxicology. PMID:28286876

A Dome-Headed Stem Archosaur Exemplifies Convergence among Dinosaurs and Their Distant Relatives.

PubMed

Stocker, Michelle R; Nesbitt, Sterling J; Criswell, Katharine E; Parker, William G; Witmer, Lawrence M; Rowe, Timothy B; Ridgely, Ryan; Brown, Matthew A

2016-10-10

Similarities in body plan evolution, such as wings in pterosaurs, birds, and bats or limblessness in snakes and amphisbaenians, can be recognized as classical examples of convergence among animals [1-3]. We introduce a new Triassic stem archosaur that is unexpectedly and remarkably convergent with the "dome-headed" pachycephalosaur dinosaurs that lived over 100 million years later. Surprisingly, numerous additional taxa in the same assemblage (the Otis Chalk assemblage from the Dockum Group of Texas) demonstrate the early acquisition of morphological novelties that were later convergently evolved by post-Triassic dinosaurs. As one of the most successful clades of terrestrial vertebrates, dinosaurs came to occupy an extensive morphospace throughout their diversification in the Mesozoic Era [4, 5], but their distant relatives were first to evolve many of those "dinosaurian" body plans in the Triassic Period [6-8]. Our analysis of convergence between archosauromorphs from the Triassic Period and post-Triassic archosaurs demonstrates the early and extensive exploration of morphospace captured in a single Late Triassic assemblage, and we hypothesize that many of the "novel" morphotypes interpreted to occur among archosaurs later in the Mesozoic already were in place during the initial Triassic archosauromorph, largely non-dinosaurian, radiation and only later convergently evolved in diverse dinosaurian lineages. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using distant supervised learning to identify protein subcellular localizations from full-text scientific articles.

PubMed

Zheng, Wu; Blake, Catherine

2015-10-01

Databases of curated biomedical knowledge, such as the protein-locations reflected in the UniProtKB database, provide an accurate and useful resource to researchers and decision makers. Our goal is to augment the manual efforts currently used to curate knowledge bases with automated approaches that leverage the increased availability of full-text scientific articles. This paper describes experiments that use distant supervised learning to identify protein subcellular localizations, which are important to understand protein function and to identify candidate drug targets. Experiments consider Swiss-Prot, the manually annotated subset of the UniProtKB protein knowledge base, and 43,000 full-text articles from the Journal of Biological Chemistry that contain just under 11.5 million sentences. The system achieves 0.81 precision and 0.49 recall at sentence level and an accuracy of 57% on held-out instances in a test set. Moreover, the approach identifies 8210 instances that are not in the UniProtKB knowledge base. Manual inspection of the 50 most likely relations showed that 41 (82%) were valid. These results have immediate benefit to researchers interested in protein function, and suggest that distant supervision should be explored to complement other manual data curation efforts. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Saving Millions without Spending a Dime.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raman, Elizabeth

2003-01-01

Describes how the University of Hawaii at Hilo is using the $2.7 million it saved on utility bills during the past 5 years to repay campus energy improvements financed, installed, and maintained by an energy services company; the method is called energy savings performance contracting. (EV)

Rapid detection, classification and accurate alignment of up to a million or more related protein sequences.

PubMed

Neuwald, Andrew F

2009-08-01

The patterns of sequence similarity and divergence present within functionally diverse, evolutionarily related proteins contain implicit information about corresponding biochemical similarities and differences. A first step toward accessing such information is to statistically analyze these patterns, which, in turn, requires that one first identify and accurately align a very large set of protein sequences. Ideally, the set should include many distantly related, functionally divergent subgroups. Because it is extremely difficult, if not impossible for fully automated methods to align such sequences correctly, researchers often resort to manual curation based on detailed structural and biochemical information. However, multiply-aligning vast numbers of sequences in this way is clearly impractical. This problem is addressed using Multiply-Aligned Profiles for Global Alignment of Protein Sequences (MAPGAPS). The MAPGAPS program uses a set of multiply-aligned profiles both as a query to detect and classify related sequences and as a template to multiply-align the sequences. It relies on Karlin-Altschul statistics for sensitivity and on PSI-BLAST (and other) heuristics for speed. Using as input a carefully curated multiple-profile alignment for P-loop GTPases, MAPGAPS correctly aligned weakly conserved sequence motifs within 33 distantly related GTPases of known structure. By comparison, the sequence- and structurally based alignment methods hmmalign and PROMALS3D misaligned at least 11 and 23 of these regions, respectively. When applied to a dataset of 65 million protein sequences, MAPGAPS identified, classified and aligned (with comparable accuracy) nearly half a million putative P-loop GTPase sequences. A C++ implementation of MAPGAPS is available at http://mapgaps.igs.umaryland.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

H2D(+) observations give an age of at least one million years for a cloud core forming Sun-like stars.

PubMed

Brünken, Sandra; Sipilä, Olli; Chambers, Edward T; Harju, Jorma; Caselli, Paola; Asvany, Oskar; Honingh, Cornelia E; Kamiński, Tomasz; Menten, Karl M; Stutzki, Jürgen; Schlemmer, Stephan

2014-12-11

The age of dense interstellar cloud cores, where stars and planets form, is a crucial parameter in star formation and difficult to measure. Some models predict rapid collapse, whereas others predict timescales of more than one million years (ref. 3). One possible approach to determining the age is through chemical changes as cloud contraction occurs, in particular through indirect measurements of the ratio of the two spin isomers (ortho/para) of molecular hydrogen, H2, which decreases monotonically with age. This has been done for the dense cloud core L183, for which the deuterium fractionation of diazenylium (N2H(+)) was used as a chemical clock to infer that the core has contracted rapidly (on a timescale of less than 700,000 years). Among astronomically observable molecules, the spin isomers of the deuterated trihydrogen cation, ortho-H2D(+) and para-H2D(+), have the most direct chemical connections to H2 (refs 8, 9, 10, 11, 12) and their abundance ratio provides a chemical clock that is sensitive to greater cloud core ages. So far this ratio has not been determined because para-H2D(+) is very difficult to observe. The detection of its rotational ground-state line has only now become possible thanks to accurate measurements of its transition frequency in the laboratory, and recent progress in instrumentation technology. Here we report observations of ortho- and para-H2D(+) emission and absorption, respectively, from the dense cloud core hosting IRAS 16293-2422 A/B, a group of nascent solar-type stars (with ages of less than 100,000 years). Using the ortho/para ratio in conjunction with chemical models, we find that the dense core has been chemically processed for at least one million years. The apparent discrepancy with the earlier N2H(+) work arises because that chemical clock turns off sooner than the H2D(+) clock, but both results imply that star-forming dense cores have ages of about one million years, rather than 100,000 years.

Algorithm to find distant repeats in a single protein sequence

PubMed Central

Banerjee, Nirjhar; Sarani, Rangarajan; Ranjani, Chellamuthu Vasuki; Sowmiya, Govindaraj; Michael, Daliah; Balakrishnan, Narayanasamy; Sekar, Kanagaraj

2008-01-01

Distant repeats in protein sequence play an important role in various aspects of protein analysis. A keen analysis of the distant repeats would enable to establish a firm relation of the repeats with respect to their function and three-dimensional structure during the evolutionary process. Further, it enlightens the diversity of duplication during the evolution. To this end, an algorithm has been developed to find all distant repeats in a protein sequence. The scores from Point Accepted Mutation (PAM) matrix has been deployed for the identification of amino acid substitutions while detecting the distant repeats. Due to the biological importance of distant repeats, the proposed algorithm will be of importance to structural biologists, molecular biologists, biochemists and researchers involved in phylogenetic and evolutionary studies. PMID:19052663

Monsanto Gives Washington U. $23.5 Million.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culliton, Barbara J.

1982-01-01

Reviews various provisions of a five-year, $23.5-million research agreement between Washington University and the Monsanto Company. The scientific focus of this venture will be on proteins and peptides which modify cellular behavior. (SK)

A Million-Year Record of Glaciation in the Tropical Andes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, J. A.; Seltzer, G. O.; Rodbell, D. T.; Farber, D. L.; Finkel, R. C.

2004-12-01

We present a longterm record of glaciation in the tropical Andes based on cosmogenic dating (10Be) of boulders on moraines. Well-preserved moraines in deglaciated valleys bordering the Junin Plain in central Peru ( ˜11° S, 76° W, 4000 m) were deposited during several glacial cycles extending back more than one million years before present (1 Myr BP). The presence of boulders with zero-erosion 10Be exposure ages >1 Myr constrains boulder erosion rates to relatively low values. For boulders at high altitudes, however, even low boulder erosion rates (0.3 to 0.5 m/Myr) make calculated old exposure ages markedly older [e.g., ˜20% older for a zero-erosion age of 400,000 10Be years (400 10Be kyr)]. Exposure ages recalculated with boulder erosion rates of 0.3 m/Myr straddle interglacial marine isotope stage (MIS) 11 ( ˜430-390 kyr BP), fall within glacial MIS 12 ( ˜480-430 kyr BP), but skip over glacial MIS 16 ( ˜670-630 kyr BP), perhaps the largest ice volume of the past 2 Myr. Increasing the erosion rate used in the calculations to 0.5 m/Myr moves ages into both MIS 11 and MIS 16. If we assume that the older Andean glaciations were indeed synchronous with global ice volume, our data suggest that boulder preservation cannot be treated as a simple linear process. Conversely, the data may be suggesting correctly that glaciation of the tropical Andes was not synchronous with the global glaciations as inferred from the marine isotope record. Our chronology for the last glacial maximum (LGM) in the region supports the idea of asynchrony between the global ice volume record and the terrestrial record of glaciation in the tropical Andes. The LGM in the Junin region of Peru and in the Cordillera Real of Bolivia (16° S 68° W) occurred ˜34 to 22 10Be kyr BP and was less extensive than older glaciations. Asynchrony between the LGM in the Northern Hemisphere ( ˜21 kyr BP) and the tropical Andes suggests that previous glaciations in the tropical Andes may have been

Curiously modern DNA for a "250 million-year-old" bacterium.

PubMed

Nickle, David C; Learn, Gerald H; Rain, Matthew W; Mullins, James I; Mittler, John E

2002-01-01

Studies of ancient DNA have attracted considerable attention in scientific journals and the popular press. Several of the more extreme claims for ancient DNA have been questioned on biochemical grounds (i.e., DNA surviving longer than expected) and evolutionary grounds (i.e., nucleotide substitution patterns not matching theoretical expectations for ancient DNA). A recent letter to Nature from Vreeland et al. (2000), however, tops all others with respect to age and condition of the specimen. These researchers extracted and cultured a bacterium from an inclusion body from what they claim is a 250 million-year (Myr)-old salt crystal. If substantiated, this observation could fundamentally alter views about bacterial physiology, ecology and evolution. Here we report on molecular evolutionary analyses of the 16S rDNA from this specimen. We find that 2-9-3 differs from a modern halophile, Salibacillus marismortui, by just 3 unambiguous bp in 16S rDNA, versus the approximately 59 bp that would be expected if these bacteria evolved at the same rate as other bacteria. We show, using a Poisson distribution, that unless it can be shown that S. marismortui evolves 5 to 10 times more slowly than other bacteria for which 16S rDNA substitution rates have been established, Vreeland et al.'s claim would be rejected at the 0.05 level. Also, a molecular clock test and a relative rates test fail to substantiate Vreeland et al.'s claim that strain 2-9-3 is a 250-Myr-old bacterium. The report of Vreeland et al. thus falls into a long series of suspect ancient DNA studies.

The Sénèze maar (French Massif-Central): Hypothesis regarding a catastrophe occurring about 1.5 million years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Couthures, Jean

1989-11-01

A reconstruction, based on direct observations in the form of borings and paleontological digs, indicates repetitive catastrophes in the palaeo-lake of the Sénèze depression long after formation of the maar. This event is correlated with extensive slumping associated with erosion of the crater rim induced by a critical ring fault. K-Ar dating gives a lower limit of around 2.48 million years for the initial formation, but not the lapse of time between eruption and filling. According to drilling, sedimentology, and palynological analysis, the lake was functional between 2.3 and 1.3 million years ago, i.e., throughout the Tiglian and at the beginning of the Eburonian. The destruction of all animal life could only have been due to asphyxia, but probably resulted from a CO 2 release. All classes of animals, mainly mammals, were affected and subsequently died. They are found in the same levels in several fossiliferous beds, at the top of the lacustrine deposits and also in reworked debris from the crater rim.

A major change in North Atlantic deep water circulation 1.6 million years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khélifi, N.; Frank, M.

2014-07-01

The global ocean-climate system has been highly sensitive to the formation and advection of deep overflow water from the Nordic Seas as integral part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) but its evolution over the Pliocene-Pleistocene global cooling is not fully understood. In particular, changes in the sources and mixing of prevailing deep waters that were involved in driving overturning throughout the Pliocene-Pleistocene climate transitions are not well constrained. Here we investigate the evolution of a substantial deep southward return overflow of the AMOC over the last 4 million years. We present new records of the bottom-water radiogenic neodymium isotope (ϵNd) variability obtained from three sediment cores (DSDP site 610 and ODP sites 980/981 and 900) at water depths between 2170 and 5050 m in the northeast Atlantic. We find that prior to the onset of major Northern Hemisphere glaciation (NHG) ∼3 million years ago (Ma), ϵNd values primarily oscillated between -9 and -11 at all sites, consistent with enhanced vertical mixing and weak stratification of the water masses during the warmer-than-today Pliocene period. From 2.7 Ma to ∼2.0 Ma, the ϵNd signatures of the water masses gradually became more distinct, which documents a significant advection of Nordic Seas overflow deep water coincident with the intensification of NHG. Most markedly, however, at ∼1.6 Ma the interglacial ϵNd signatures at sites 610 (2420 m water depth (w.d.)) and 980/981 (2170 m w.d.) synchronously and permanently shifted by 2 to 3 ϵNd units to less radiogenic values, respectively. Since then the difference between glacial and interglacial ϵNd values has been similar to the Late Quaternary at each site. A decrease of ∼2ϵNd units at 1.6 Ma was also recorded for the deepest water masses by site 900 (∼5050 m w.d.), which thereafter, however, evolved to more radiogenic values

Opposite Effects of Coinjection and Distant Injection of Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Breast Tumor Cell Growth.

PubMed

Zheng, Huilin; Zou, Weibin; Shen, Jiaying; Xu, Liang; Wang, Shu; Fu, Yang-Xin; Fan, Weimin

2016-09-01

: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) usually promote tumor growth and metastasis. By using a breast tumor 4T1 cell-based animal model, this study determined that coinjection and distant injection of allogeneic bone marrow-derived MSCs with tumor cells could exert different effects on tumor growth. Whereas the coinjection of MSCs with 4T1 cells promoted tumor growth, surprisingly, the injection of MSCs at a site distant from the 4T1 cell inoculation site suppressed tumor growth. We further observed that, in the distant injection model, MSCs decreased the accumulation of myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells in tumor tissues by enhancing proinflammatory factors such as interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, Toll-like receptor (TLR)-3, and TLR-4, promoting host antitumor immunity and inhibiting tumor growth. Unlike previous reports, this is the first study reporting that MSCs may exert opposite roles on tumor growth in the same animal model by modulating the host immune system, which may shed light on the potential application of MSCs as vehicles for tumor therapy and other clinical applications. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely investigated for their potential roles in tissue engineering, autoimmune diseases, and tumor therapeutics. This study explored the impact of coinjection and distant injection of allogeneic bone marrow-derived MSCs on mouse 4T1 breast cancer cells. The results showed that the coinjection of MSCs and 4T1 cells promoted tumor growth. MSCs might act as the tumor stromal precursors and cause immunosuppression to protect tumor cells from immunosurveillance, which subsequently facilitated tumor metastasis. Interestingly, the distant injection of MSCs and 4T1 cells suppressed tumor growth. Together, the results of this study revealed the dual functions of MSCs in immunoregulation. ©AlphaMed Press.

A 300 year history of lead contamination in northern French Alps reconstructed from distant lake sediment records.

PubMed

Arnaud, F; Revel-Rolland, M; Bosch, D; Winiarski, T; Desmet, M; Tribovillard, N; Givelet, N

2004-05-01

Lead concentrations and isotopic ratios were measured along two well-dated sediment cores from two distant lakes: Anterne (2100 m a.s.l.) and Le Bourget (270 m a.s.l.), submitted to low and high direct human impact and covering the last 250 and 600 years, respectively. The measurement of lead in old sediment samples (>3000 BP) permits, in using mixing-models, the determination of lead concentration, flux and isotopic composition of purely anthropogenic origin. We thus show that since ca. 1800 AD the regional increase in lead contamination was mostly driven by coal consumption ((206)Pb/(207)Pb approximately 1.17-1.19; (206)Pb/(204)Pb approximately 18.3-18.6), which peaks around 1915 AD. The increasing usage of leaded gasoline, introduced in the 1920s, was recorded in both lakes by increasing Pb concentrations and decreasing Pb isotope ratios. A peak around 1970 ((206)Pb/(207)Pb approximately 1.13-1.16; (206)Pb/(204)Pb approximately 17.6-18.0) corresponds to the worldwide recorded leaded gasoline maximum of consumption. The 1973 oil crisis is characterised by a drastic drop of lead fluxes in both lakes (from approximately 35 to <20 mg cm(-2) yr(-1)). In the late 1980s, environmental policies made the Lake Anterne flux drop to pre-1900 values (<10 mg cm(-2) yr(-1)) while Lake Le Bourget is always submitted to an important flux (approximately 25 mg cm(-2) yr(-1)). The good match of our distant records, together and with a previously established series in an ice core from Mont Blanc, provides confidence in the use of sediments as archives of lead contamination. The integration of the Mont Blanc ice core results from Rosman et al. with our data highlights, from 1990 onward, a decoupling in lead sources between the high elevation sites (Lake Anterne and Mont Blanc ice core), submitted to a mixture of long-distance and regional contamination and the low elevation site (Lake Le Bourget), where regional contamination is predominant.

Dinosaurs in decline tens of millions of years before their final extinction

PubMed Central

Sakamoto, Manabu; Benton, Michael J.; Venditti, Chris

2016-01-01

Whether dinosaurs were in a long-term decline or whether they were reigning strong right up to their final disappearance at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event 66 Mya has been debated for decades with no clear resolution. The dispute has continued unresolved because of a lack of statistical rigor and appropriate evolutionary framework. Here, for the first time to our knowledge, we apply a Bayesian phylogenetic approach to model the evolutionary dynamics of speciation and extinction through time in Mesozoic dinosaurs, properly taking account of previously ignored statistical violations. We find overwhelming support for a long-term decline across all dinosaurs and within all three dinosaurian subclades (Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha, and Theropoda), where speciation rate slowed down through time and was ultimately exceeded by extinction rate tens of millions of years before the K-Pg boundary. The only exceptions to this general pattern are the morphologically specialized herbivores, the Hadrosauriformes and Ceratopsidae, which show rapid species proliferations throughout the Late Cretaceous instead. Our results highlight that, despite some heterogeneity in speciation dynamics, dinosaurs showed a marked reduction in their ability to replace extinct species with new ones, making them vulnerable to extinction and unable to respond quickly to and recover from the final catastrophic event. PMID:27092007

Dinosaurs in decline tens of millions of years before their final extinction.

PubMed

Sakamoto, Manabu; Benton, Michael J; Venditti, Chris

2016-05-03

Whether dinosaurs were in a long-term decline or whether they were reigning strong right up to their final disappearance at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event 66 Mya has been debated for decades with no clear resolution. The dispute has continued unresolved because of a lack of statistical rigor and appropriate evolutionary framework. Here, for the first time to our knowledge, we apply a Bayesian phylogenetic approach to model the evolutionary dynamics of speciation and extinction through time in Mesozoic dinosaurs, properly taking account of previously ignored statistical violations. We find overwhelming support for a long-term decline across all dinosaurs and within all three dinosaurian subclades (Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha, and Theropoda), where speciation rate slowed down through time and was ultimately exceeded by extinction rate tens of millions of years before the K-Pg boundary. The only exceptions to this general pattern are the morphologically specialized herbivores, the Hadrosauriformes and Ceratopsidae, which show rapid species proliferations throughout the Late Cretaceous instead. Our results highlight that, despite some heterogeneity in speciation dynamics, dinosaurs showed a marked reduction in their ability to replace extinct species with new ones, making them vulnerable to extinction and unable to respond quickly to and recover from the final catastrophic event.

Dinosaurs in decline tens of millions of years before their final extinction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakamoto, Manabu; Benton, Michael J.

2016-05-01

Whether dinosaurs were in a long-term decline or whether they were reigning strong right up to their final disappearance at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) mass extinction event 66 Mya has been debated for decades with no clear resolution. The dispute has continued unresolved because of a lack of statistical rigor and appropriate evolutionary framework. Here, for the first time to our knowledge, we apply a Bayesian phylogenetic approach to model the evolutionary dynamics of speciation and extinction through time in Mesozoic dinosaurs, properly taking account of previously ignored statistical violations. We find overwhelming support for a long-term decline across all dinosaurs and within all three dinosaurian subclades (Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha, and Theropoda), where speciation rate slowed down through time and was ultimately exceeded by extinction rate tens of millions of years before the K-Pg boundary. The only exceptions to this general pattern are the morphologically specialized herbivores, the Hadrosauriformes and Ceratopsidae, which show rapid species proliferations throughout the Late Cretaceous instead. Our results highlight that, despite some heterogeneity in speciation dynamics, dinosaurs showed a marked reduction in their ability to replace extinct species with new ones, making them vulnerable to extinction and unable to respond quickly to and recover from the final catastrophic event.

Incidence and sites of distant metastases from head and neck cancer.

PubMed

Ferlito, A; Shaha, A R; Silver, C E; Rinaldo, A; Mondin, V

2001-01-01

The incidence of distant metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is relatively small in comparison to other malignancies. Distant metastases adversely impact survival and may significantly affect treatment planning. The incidence of distant metastases is influenced by location of the primary tumor, initial T and N stage of the neoplasm, and the presence or absence of regional control above the clavicle. Patients with advanced nodal disease have a high incidence of distant metastases, particularly in the presence of jugular vein invasion or extensive soft tissue disease in the neck. Primary tumors of advanced T stages in the hypopharynx, oropharynx and oral cavity are associated with the highest incidence of distant metastases. Pulmonary metastases are the most frequent in SCC, accounting for 66% of distant metastases. It may be difficult to distinguish pulmonary metastasis from a new primary tumor, particularly if solitary. Other metastatic sites include bone (22%), liver (10%), skin, mediastinum and bone marrow. An important question remains as to how intensely pre- and postoperative screening for distant metastases should be performed. Preoperative chest X-ray is warranted in all cases. If the primary tumor and nodal status place the patient at high risk for pulmonary metastasis, then preoperative computed tomography scan of the chest should be done. Screening for distant metastases at other sites is usually not indicated in SCC of the upper aerodigestive tract. Postoperatively, annual X-rays of the chest are usually sufficient, but in high-risk situations a chest X-ray performed every 3-6 months may be beneficial. Certain histologic types of primary tumor have greater or lesser propensity to metastasize distantly, and have a different natural history. Adenoid cystic carcinoma metastasizes frequently, even in the absence of extensive local or regional disease. Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinomas also metastasize widely

HUBBLE'S NEW IMPROVED OPTICS PROBE THE CORE OF A DISTANT GALAXY

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This comparison image of the core of the galaxy M100 shows the dramatic improvement in Hubble Space Telescope's view of the universe. The new image was taken with the second generation Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC-2) which was installed during the STS-61 Hubble Servicing Mission. The picture beautifully demonstrates that the corrective optics incorporated within the WFPC-2 compensate fully for optical aberration in Hubble's primary mirror. The new camera will allow Hubble to probe the universe with unprecedented clarity and sensitivity, and to fulfill many of the most important scientific objectives for which the telescope was originally built. [ Right ] The core of the grand design spiral galaxy M100, as imaged by Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 in its high resolution channel. The WFPC-2 contains modified optics that correct for Hubble's previously blurry vision, allowing the telescope for the first time to cleanly resolve faint structure as small as 30 light-years across in a galaxy which is tens of millions of light years away. The image was taken on December 31, 1993. [Left ] For comparison, a picture taken with the WFPC-1 camera in wide field mode, on November 27, 1993, just a few days prior to the STS-61 servicing mission. The effects of optical aberration in HST's 2.4-meter primary mirror blur starlight, smear out fine detail, and limit the telescope's ability to see faint structure. Both Hubble images are 'raw;' they have not been subject to computer image reconstruction techniques commonly used in aberrated images made before the servicing mission. TARGET INFORMATION: M100 The galaxy M100 (100th object in the Messier Catalog of non-stellar objects) is one of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The galaxy is in the spring constellation Coma Berenices and can be seen through a moderate-sized amateur telescope. M100 is spiral shaped, like our Milky Way, and tilted nearly face-on as seen from earth. The

Posttraumatic stress two years after the Oklahoma City bombing in youths geographically distant from the explosion.

PubMed

Pfefferbaum, B; Seale, T W; McDonald, N B; Brandt, E N; Rainwater, S M; Maynard, B T; Meierhoefer, B; Miller, P D

2000-01-01

This article describes Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in 69 sixth-grade youths who resided within 100 miles of Oklahoma City at the time of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. These youths neither had any direct physical exposure nor personally knew anyone killed or injured in the explosion. A survey conducted two years after the bombing assessed exposure, PTSD symptoms, and functioning. PTSD symptom frequency was measured with the Impact of Event Scale--Revised. Our BCD criteria for defining PTSD caseness was modeled after DSM-IV B, C, and D criteria requiring one reexperiencing, three avoidance/numbing, and two arousal symptoms for diagnosis. Those who met our BCD criteria had significantly higher PTSD symptom scores than those who did not. Both increased mean PTSD symptom score and meeting our caseness definition were associated with increased functioning difficulties. Media exposure and indirect interpersonal exposure (having a friend who knew someone killed or injured) were significant predictors of symptomatology. These findings suggest that children geographically distant from disaster who have not directly experienced an interpersonal loss report PTSD symptoms and functional impairment associated with increased media exposure and indirect loss.

Two-step frequency conversion for connecting distant quantum memories by transmission through an optical fiber

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tamura, Shuhei; Ikeda, Kohei; Okamura, Kotaro; Yoshii, Kazumichi; Hong, Feng-Lei; Horikiri, Tomoyuki; Kosaka, Hideo

2018-06-01

Long-distance quantum communication requires entanglement between distant quantum memories. For this purpose, photon transmission is necessary to connect the distant memories. Here, for the first time, we develop a two-step frequency conversion process (from a visible wavelength to a telecommunication wavelength and back) involving the use of independent two-frequency conversion media where the target quantum memories are nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamonds (with an emission/absorption wavelength of 637.2 nm), and experimentally characterize the performance of this process acting on light from an attenuated CW laser. A total conversion efficiency of approximately 7% is achieved. The noise generated in the frequency conversion processes is measured, and the signal-to-noise ratio is estimated for a single photon signal emitted by a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center. The developed frequency conversion system has future applications via transmission through a long optical fiber channel at a telecommunication wavelength for a quantum repeater network.

AAVSO and the International Year of Light (Poster abstract)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Larsen, K.

2015-06-01

(Abstract only) The United Nations General Assembly has officially designated 2015 to be the International Year of Light (IYL). Modeled in part on the earlier International Year of Astronomy (IYA), this cross-disciplinary, international educational and outreach project will celebrate the importance of light in science, technology, cultural heritage, and the arts. It ties in with several important anniversaries, such as the 1000th anniversary of the publication of Ibn Al Haythem's “Book of Optics,” the 150th anniversary of Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism, the centenary of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, and the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Because variable stars are defined as such due to the variability of the light we observe from them, all of the AAVSO programs, regardless of type of variable or instrumentation (eye, DSLR, PEP, or CCD) have natural tie-ins to the study of light. This poster will highlight a number of specific ways that AAVSO members and the organization as a whole can become intimately involved with this unique outreach opportunity.

ALMA Examines a Distant Quasar Host

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-04-01

The dust continuum (top) and the [CII] emission (bottom) maps for the region around J1120+0641. [Adapted from Venemans et al. 2017]A team of scientists has used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to explore the host galaxy of the most distant quasar known. Their observations may help us to build a picture of how the first supermassive black holes in the universe formed and evolved.Faraway Monsters and Their GalaxiesWe know that quasars the incredibly luminous and active centers of some distant galaxies are powered by accreting, supermassive black holes. These monstrous powerhouses have been detected out to redshifts of z 7, when the universe was younger than a billion years old.Though weve observed over a hundred quasars at high redshift, we still dont understand how these early supermassive black holes formed, or whether the black holes and the galaxies that host them co-evolved. In order to answer questions like these, however, we first need to gather information about the properties and behavior of various supermassive black holes and their host galaxies.A team of scientists led by Bram Venemans (Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy, Germany) recently used the unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution of ALMA as well as the Very Large Array and the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer to examine the most distant quasar currently known, J1120+0641, located at a redshift of z = 7.1.A High-Resolution LookThe teams observations of the dust and gas emission from the quasars host galaxy revealed a number of intriguing things:The red and blue sides of the [CII] emission line are shown here as contours, demonstrating that theres no ordered rotational motion of the gas on kpc scales. [Adapted from Venemans et al. 2017]The majority of the galaxys emission is very compact. Around 80% of the observed flux came from a region of only 11.5 kpc in diameter.Despite the fact that the 2.4-billion-solar-mass black hole at the galaxys center is accreting at

Indoor Lighting Facilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsushima, Koji; Saito, Yoshinori; Ichikawa, Shigenori; Kawauchi, Takao; Tanaka, Tsuneo; Hirano, Rika; Tazuke, Fuyuki

According to the statistics by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the total floor space of all building construction started was 188.87 million m2 (1.5% increase y/y), marking the fourth straight year of increase. Many large-scale buildings under construction in central Tokyo become fully occupied by tenants before completion. As for office buildings, it is required to develop comfortable and functional office spaces as working styles are becoming more and more diversified, and lighting is also an element of such functionalities. The total floor space of construction started for exhibition pavilions, multipurpose halls, conference halls and religious architectures decreased 11.1% against the previous year. This marked a decline for 10 consecutive years and the downward trend continues. In exhibition pavilions, the light radiation is measured and adjusted throughout the year so as not to damage the artworks by lighting. Hospitals, while providing higher quality medical services and enhancing the dwelling environment of patients, are expected to meet various restrictions and requirements, including the respect for privacy. Meanwhile, lighting designs for school classrooms tend to be homogeneous, yet new ideas are being promoted to strike a balance between the economical and functional aspects. The severe economic environment continues to be hampering the growth of theaters and halls in both the private and public sectors. Contrary to the downsizing trend of such facilities, additional installations of lighting equipment were conspicuous, and the adoption of high efficacy lighting appliances and intelligent function control circuits are becoming popular. In the category of stores/commercial facilities, the construction of complex facilities is a continuing trend. Indirect lighting, high luminance discharge lamps with excellent color rendition and LEDs are being effectively used in these facilities, together with the introduction of lighting designs

Convergent evolution of SWS2 opsin facilitates adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback into different light environments

PubMed Central

Taylor, John S.; Jones, Felicity C.; Di Palma, Federica; Kingsley, David M.; Reimchen, Thomas E.

2017-01-01

Repeated adaptation to a new environment often leads to convergent phenotypic changes whose underlying genetic mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we study adaptation of color vision in threespine stickleback during the repeated postglacial colonization of clearwater and blackwater lakes in the Haida Gwaii archipelago. We use whole genomes from 16 clearwater and 12 blackwater populations, and a selection experiment, in which stickleback were transplanted from a blackwater lake into an uninhabited clearwater pond and resampled after 19 y to test for selection on cone opsin genes. Patterns of haplotype homozygosity, genetic diversity, site frequency spectra, and allele-frequency change support a selective sweep centered on the adjacent blue- and red-light sensitive opsins SWS2 and LWS. The haplotype under selection carries seven amino acid changes in SWS2, including two changes known to cause a red-shift in light absorption, and is favored in blackwater lakes but disfavored in the clearwater habitat of the transplant population. Remarkably, the same red-shifting amino acid changes occurred after the duplication of SWS2 198 million years ago, in the ancestor of most spiny-rayed fish. Two distantly related fish species, bluefin killifish and black bream, express these old paralogs divergently in black- and clearwater habitats, while sticklebacks lost one paralog. Our study thus shows that convergent adaptation to the same environment can involve the same genetic changes on very different evolutionary time scales by reevolving lost mutations and reusing them repeatedly from standing genetic variation. PMID:28399148

Convergent evolution of SWS2 opsin facilitates adaptive radiation of threespine stickleback into different light environments.

PubMed

Marques, David A; Taylor, John S; Jones, Felicity C; Di Palma, Federica; Kingsley, David M; Reimchen, Thomas E

2017-04-01

Repeated adaptation to a new environment often leads to convergent phenotypic changes whose underlying genetic mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we study adaptation of color vision in threespine stickleback during the repeated postglacial colonization of clearwater and blackwater lakes in the Haida Gwaii archipelago. We use whole genomes from 16 clearwater and 12 blackwater populations, and a selection experiment, in which stickleback were transplanted from a blackwater lake into an uninhabited clearwater pond and resampled after 19 y to test for selection on cone opsin genes. Patterns of haplotype homozygosity, genetic diversity, site frequency spectra, and allele-frequency change support a selective sweep centered on the adjacent blue- and red-light sensitive opsins SWS2 and LWS. The haplotype under selection carries seven amino acid changes in SWS2, including two changes known to cause a red-shift in light absorption, and is favored in blackwater lakes but disfavored in the clearwater habitat of the transplant population. Remarkably, the same red-shifting amino acid changes occurred after the duplication of SWS2 198 million years ago, in the ancestor of most spiny-rayed fish. Two distantly related fish species, bluefin killifish and black bream, express these old paralogs divergently in black- and clearwater habitats, while sticklebacks lost one paralog. Our study thus shows that convergent adaptation to the same environment can involve the same genetic changes on very different evolutionary time scales by reevolving lost mutations and reusing them repeatedly from standing genetic variation.

Conservation of miRNA-mediated silencing mechanisms across 600 million years of animal evolution.

PubMed

Mauri, Marta; Kirchner, Marieluise; Aharoni, Reuven; Ciolli Mattioli, Camilla; van den Bruck, David; Gutkovitch, Nadya; Modepalli, Vengamanaidu; Selbach, Matthias; Moran, Yehu; Chekulaeva, Marina

2017-01-25

Our current knowledge about the mechanisms of miRNA silencing is restricted to few lineages such as vertebrates, arthropods, nematodes and land plants. miRNA-mediated silencing in bilaterian animals is dependent on the proteins of the GW182 family. Here, we dissect the function of GW182 protein in the cnidarian Nematostella, separated by 600 million years from other Metazoa. Using cultured human cells, we show that Nematostella GW182 recruits the CCR4-NOT deadenylation complexes via its tryptophan-containing motifs, thereby inhibiting translation and promoting mRNA decay. Further, similarly to bilaterians, GW182 in Nematostella is recruited to the miRNA repression complex via interaction with Argonaute proteins, and functions downstream to repress mRNA. Thus, our work suggests that this mechanism of miRNA-mediated silencing was already active in the last common ancestor of Cnidaria and Bilateria. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Commercial fertilizers: Total US fertilizer consumption 44.9 million tons in 1989

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hargett, N.L.; Berry, J.T.; McKinney, S.L.

1989-12-31

US fertilizer consumption for the 1988--1989 year was 44.9 million tons of material-an increase of less than one percent from the previous year. The average plant nutrient content of all fertilizers decreased slightly as total plant nutrient consumption declined from 19.61 million to 19.59 million tons of N, P{sub 2}O{sub 5}, and K{sub 2}O. Total nitrogen consumption increased one percent to 10.63 million tons, while P{sub 2}O{sub 5} use decreased by less than one percent to 4.12 million tons. Potash consumption declined from 4.97 million tons to 4.83 million tons K{sub 2}O-a 2.8 percent decrease. Consumption patterns varied widely frommore » state to state as weather conditions adversely affected fertilizer application even with significant increases in total planted crop acreage. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio reported a decline in total plant nutrient application while several of the southeastern states registered an increase in consumption. Nutrient levels in mixed fertilizers remained unchanged as slight gains in the nitrogen and P{sub 2}O{sub 5} content were offset by a decline in K{sub 2}O. Consumption of ammonium polyphosphate solution (10-34-0) and monoammonium phosphates increased 9.2 percent and 12.8 percent respectively, while diammonium phosphate (18-46-0) use was 2.4 percent below last year. A general increase in the use of nitrogen materials was reported with the exception of nitrogen solutions which declined 2.1 percent from 1987--1988. Urea consumption rose almost 2 percent. ammonium nitrate was up 8.1 percent, and ammonium sulfate recorded a 9.5 percent gain in consumption. Anhydrous ammonia use was only 35,000 tons above last year. This document contains a state by state listing of individual fertilizer consumption rates, numerical data only.« less

Commercial fertilizers: Total US fertilizer consumption 44. 9 million tons in 1989

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hargett, N.L.; Berry, J.T.; McKinney, S.L.

1989-01-01

US fertilizer consumption for the 1988--1989 year was 44.9 million tons of material-an increase of less than one percent from the previous year. The average plant nutrient content of all fertilizers decreased slightly as total plant nutrient consumption declined from 19.61 million to 19.59 million tons of N, P[sub 2]O[sub 5], and K[sub 2]O. Total nitrogen consumption increased one percent to 10.63 million tons, while P[sub 2]O[sub 5] use decreased by less than one percent to 4.12 million tons. Potash consumption declined from 4.97 million tons to 4.83 million tons K[sub 2]O-a 2.8 percent decrease. Consumption patterns varied widely frommore » state to state as weather conditions adversely affected fertilizer application even with significant increases in total planted crop acreage. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and Ohio reported a decline in total plant nutrient application while several of the southeastern states registered an increase in consumption. Nutrient levels in mixed fertilizers remained unchanged as slight gains in the nitrogen and P[sub 2]O[sub 5] content were offset by a decline in K[sub 2]O. Consumption of ammonium polyphosphate solution (10-34-0) and monoammonium phosphates increased 9.2 percent and 12.8 percent respectively, while diammonium phosphate (18-46-0) use was 2.4 percent below last year. A general increase in the use of nitrogen materials was reported with the exception of nitrogen solutions which declined 2.1 percent from 1987--1988. Urea consumption rose almost 2 percent. ammonium nitrate was up 8.1 percent, and ammonium sulfate recorded a 9.5 percent gain in consumption. Anhydrous ammonia use was only 35,000 tons above last year. This document contains a state by state listing of individual fertilizer consumption rates, numerical data only.« less

Technical/commercial feasibility study of the production of fuel-grade ethanol from corn: 100-million-gallon-per-year production facility in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. Volume 1: Executive summary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1982-05-01

An executive summary is given of a detailed feasibility study for a 100 million gallon per year power alcohol plant using corn as feedstock. The proposed plant will ultimately have the capability to produce 100 million gallons per year of anhydrous alcohol from an estimated 40 million bushels of corn and will be designed so as to allow construction in modules of 25 million gallons each. Alcohol produced at this plant is intended essentially for use as a gasoline octane booster, a motor fuel in gasoline/alcohol blends and as a chemical feedstock. In addition, the plant will produce a number of by-products, each of which has existing commercial markets; namely, 236,400 tons of CO2, 237,600 tons of protein meal mixture (40.2% protein), or 124,000 tons of gluten meal (41% protein), 20,000 tons of yeast, 68,400 tons of corn bran, 89,600 tons of corn germ cake and 4,584,000 gallons of corn oil (food grade).

Validation of the 18-gene classifier as a prognostic biomarker of distant metastasis in breast cancer.

PubMed

Cheng, Skye Hung-Chun; Huang, Tzu-Ting; Cheng, Yu-Hao; Tan, Tee Benita Kiat; Horng, Chen-Fang; Wang, Yong Alison; Brian, Nicholas Shannon; Shih, Li-Sun; Yu, Ben-Long

2017-01-01

We validated an 18-gene classifier (GC) initially developed to predict local/regional recurrence after mastectomy in estimating distant metastasis risk. The 18-gene scoring algorithm defines scores as: <21, low risk; ≥21, high risk. Six hundred eighty-three patients with primary operable breast cancer and fresh frozen tumor tissues available were included. The primary outcome was the 5-year probability of freedom from distant metastasis (DMFP). Two external datasets were used to test the predictive accuracy of 18-GC. The 5-year rates of DMFP for patients classified as low-risk (n = 146, 21.7%) and high-risk (n = 537, 78.6%) were 96.2% (95% CI, 91.1%-98.8%) and 80.9% (74.6%-81.9%), respectively (median follow-up interval, 71.8 months). The 5-year rates of DMFP of the low-risk group in stage I (n = 62, 35.6%), stage II (n = 66, 20.1%), and stage III (n = 18, 10.3%) were 100%, 94.2% (78.5%-98.5%), and 90.9% (50.8%-98.7%), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that 18-GC is an independent prognostic factor of distant metastasis (adjusted hazard ratio, 5.1; 95% CI, 1.8-14.1; p = 0.0017) for scores of ≥21. External validation showed that the 5-year rate of DMFP in the low- and high-risk patients was 94.1% (82.9%-100%) and 80.3% (70.7%-89.9%, p = 0.06) in a Singapore dataset, and 89.5% (81.9%-94.1%) and 73.6% (67.2%-79.0%, p = 0.0039) in the GEO-GSE20685 dataset, respectively. In conclusion, 18-GC is a viable prognostic biomarker for breast cancer to estimate distant metastasis risk.

Red Shifts with Obliquely Approaching Light Sources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Head, C. E.; Moore-Head, M. E.

1988-01-01

Refutes the Doppler effect as the explanation of large red shifts in the spectra of distant galaxies and explains the relativistic effects in which the light sources approach the observer obliquely. Provides several diagrams and graphs. (YP)

Evaluation of Distant Education Programs with Regards to Various Shareholder Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tonbuloglu, Betül; Gürol, Aysun

2016-01-01

The strong demand and rapid increase in the number of programs concerning distant education programs has put the quality problem of distant education services into the agenda. It is crucial to determine the strengths and weaknesses of distant education programs, the problems encountered by these programs and making the required improvements. The…

A Million Comet Pieces

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2006-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] A Million Comet Pieces (poster version)

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the broken Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 skimming along a trail of debris left during its multiple trips around the sun. The flame-like objects are the comet's fragments and their tails, while the dusty comet trail is the line bridging the fragments.

Comet 73P /Schwassman-Wachmann 3 began to splinter apart in 1995 during one of its voyages around the sweltering sun. Since then, the comet has continued to disintegrate into dozens of fragments, at least 36 of which can be seen here. Astronomers believe the icy comet cracked due the thermal stress from the sun.

The Spitzer image provides the best look yet at the trail of debris left in the comet's wake after its 1995 breakup. The observatory's infrared eyes were able to see the dusty comet bits and pieces, which are warmed by sunlight and glow at infrared wavelengths. This comet debris ranges in size from pebbles to large boulders. When Earth passes near this rocky trail every year, the comet rubble burns up in our atmosphere, lighting up the sky in meteor showers. In 2022, Earth is expected to cross close to the comet's trail, producing a noticeable meteor shower.

Astronomers are studying the Spitzer image for clues to the comet's composition and how it fell apart. Like NASA's Deep Impact experiment, in which a probe smashed into comet Tempel 1, the cracked Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3 provides a perfect laboratory for studying the pristine interior of a comet.

This image was taken from May 4 to May 6 by Spitzer's multi-band imaging photometer, using its 24-micron wavelength channel.

A new estimate of average dipole field strength for the last five million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cromwell, G.; Tauxe, L.; Halldorsson, S. A.

2013-12-01

The Earth's ancient magnetic field can be approximated by a geocentric axial dipole (GAD) where the average field intensity is twice as strong at the poles than at the equator. The present day geomagnetic field, and some global paleointensity datasets, support the GAD hypothesis with a virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) of about 80 ZAm2. Significant departures from GAD for 0-5 Ma are found in Antarctica and Iceland where paleointensity experiments on massive flows (Antarctica) (1) and volcanic glasses (Iceland) produce average VADM estimates of 41.4 ZAm2 and 59.5 ZAm2, respectively. These combined intensities are much closer to a lower estimate for long-term dipole field strength, 50 ZAm2 (2), and some other estimates of average VADM based on paleointensities strictly from volcanic glasses. Proposed explanations for the observed non-GAD behavior, from otherwise high-quality paleointensity results, include incomplete temporal sampling, effects from the tangent cylinder, and hemispheric asymmetry. Differences in estimates of average magnetic field strength likely arise from inconsistent selection protocols and experiment methodologies. We address these possible biases and estimate the average dipole field strength for the last five million years by compiling measurement level data of IZZI-modified paleointensity experiments from lava flows around the globe (including new results from Iceland and the HSDP-2 Hawaii drill core). We use the Thellier Gui paleointensity interpreter (3) in order to apply objective criteria to all specimens, ensuring consistency between sites. Specimen level selection criteria are determined from a recent paleointensity investigation of modern Hawaiian lava flows where the expected magnetic field strength was accurately recovered when following certain selection parameters. Our new estimate of average dipole field strength for the last five million years incorporates multiple paleointensity studies on lava flows with diverse global and

Burrowing hard corals occurring on the sea floor since 80 million years ago.

PubMed

Sentoku, Asuka; Tokuda, Yuki; Ezaki, Yoichi

2016-04-14

We describe a previously unknown niche for hard corals in the small, bowl-shaped, solitary scleractinian, Deltocyathoides orientalis (Family Turbinoliidae), on soft-bottom substrates. Observational experiments were used to clarify how the sea floor niche is exploited by turbinoliids. Deltocyathoides orientalis is adapted to an infaunal mode of life and exhibits behaviours associated with automobility that include burrowing into sediments, vertical movement through sediments to escape burial, and recovery of an upright position after being overturned. These behaviours were achieved through repeated expansion and contraction of their peripheral soft tissues, which constitute a unique muscle-membrane system. Histological analysis showed that these muscle arrangements were associated with deeply incised inter-costal spaces characteristic of turbinoliid corals. The oldest known turbinoliid, Bothrophoria ornata, which occurred in the Cretaceous (Campanian), also possessed a small, conical skeleton with highly developed costae. An infaunal mode of life became available to turbinoliids due to the acquisition of automobility through the muscle-membrane system at least 80 million years ago. The newly discovered active burrowing strategies described herein provide new insights into the use of an unattached mode of life by corals inhabiting soft-bottom substrates throughout the Phanerozoic.

Burrowing hard corals occurring on the sea floor since 80 million years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sentoku, Asuka; Tokuda, Yuki; Ezaki, Yoichi

2016-04-01

We describe a previously unknown niche for hard corals in the small, bowl-shaped, solitary scleractinian, Deltocyathoides orientalis (Family Turbinoliidae), on soft-bottom substrates. Observational experiments were used to clarify how the sea floor niche is exploited by turbinoliids. Deltocyathoides orientalis is adapted to an infaunal mode of life and exhibits behaviours associated with automobility that include burrowing into sediments, vertical movement through sediments to escape burial, and recovery of an upright position after being overturned. These behaviours were achieved through repeated expansion and contraction of their peripheral soft tissues, which constitute a unique muscle-membrane system. Histological analysis showed that these muscle arrangements were associated with deeply incised inter-costal spaces characteristic of turbinoliid corals. The oldest known turbinoliid, Bothrophoria ornata, which occurred in the Cretaceous (Campanian), also possessed a small, conical skeleton with highly developed costae. An infaunal mode of life became available to turbinoliids due to the acquisition of automobility through the muscle-membrane system at least 80 million years ago. The newly discovered active burrowing strategies described herein provide new insights into the use of an unattached mode of life by corals inhabiting soft-bottom substrates throughout the Phanerozoic.

Gates Foundation donates $25 million for AIDS vaccine.

PubMed

1999-05-07

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) received a $25 million five-year grant from Bill and Melinda Gates through the William H. Gates Foundation. This is the largest gift seen in the AIDS epidemic, and will allow IAVI to more than double vaccine development efforts. IAVI is currently developing two potential vaccines, hopes to study three others, and is working with the business community to insure that a successful vaccine is affordable in developing countries. With 16,000 new infections occurring daily, a vaccine is seen as the most effective way to stop the epidemic. The William H. Gates Foundation had donated $1.5 million to IAVI and $100 million for programs to speed the delivery of vaccines to children in poor countries. Internet addresses are included for both IAVI and the William H. Gates Foundation.

Distant hybridization leads to different ploidy fishes.

PubMed

Liu, ShaoJun

2010-04-01

Distant hybridization makes it possible to transfer the genome of one species to another, which results in changes in phenotypes and genotypes of the progenies. This study shows that distant hybridization or the combination of this method with gynogenesis or androgenesis lead to different ploidy fishes with genetic variation, including fertile tetraploid hybrids, sterile triploid hybrids, fertile diploid hybrids, fertile diploid gynogenetic fish, and their derived progenies. The formations of the different ploidy fishes depend on the genetic relationship between the parents. In this study, several types of distant hybridization, including red crucian carp (Carassius auratus red var.) (2n=100, abbreviated as RCC) (female) x common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.) (2n=100, abbreviated as CC) (male), and RCC (2n=100) (female) x blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala) (2n=48, abbreviated as BSB) (male) are described. In the distant hybridization of RCC (female) x CC (male), bisexual fertile F(3)-F(18) allotetraploid hybrids (4n=200, abbreviated as 4nAT) were formed. The diploid hybrid eggs and diploid sperm generated by the females and males of 4nAT developed into diploid gynogenetic hybrids and diploid androgenetic hybrids, respectively, by gynogenesis and androgenesis, without treatment for doubling the chromosome. Improved tetraploid hybrids and improved diploid fishes with genetic variation were derived from the gynogenetic hybrid line. The improved diploid fishes included the high-body RCC and high-body goldfish. The formation of the tetraploid hybrids was related to the occurrence of unreduced gametes generated from the diploid hybrids, which involved in premeiotic endoreduplication, endomitosis, or fusion of germ cells. The sterile triploid hybrids (3n=150) were produced on a large scale by crossing the males of tetraploid hybrids with females of diploid fish (2n=100). In another distant hybridization of RCC (female) x BSB (male), different ploidy fishes were

Oceanic crustal carbon cycle drives 26-million-year atmospheric carbon dioxide periodicities.

PubMed

Müller, R Dietmar; Dutkiewicz, Adriana

2018-02-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) data for the last 420 million years (My) show long-term fluctuations related to supercontinent cycles as well as shorter cycles at 26 to 32 My whose origin is unknown. Periodicities of 26 to 30 My occur in diverse geological phenomena including mass extinctions, flood basalt volcanism, ocean anoxic events, deposition of massive evaporites, sequence boundaries, and orogenic events and have previously been linked to an extraterrestrial mechanism. The vast oceanic crustal carbon reservoir is an alternative potential driving force of climate fluctuations at these time scales, with hydrothermal crustal carbon uptake occurring mostly in young crust with a strong dependence on ocean bottom water temperature. We combine a global plate model and oceanic paleo-age grids with estimates of paleo-ocean bottom water temperatures to track the evolution of the oceanic crustal carbon reservoir over the past 230 My. We show that seafloor spreading rates as well as the storage, subduction, and emission of oceanic crustal and mantle CO 2 fluctuate with a period of 26 My. A connection with seafloor spreading rates and equivalent cycles in subduction zone rollback suggests that these periodicities are driven by the dynamics of subduction zone migration. The oceanic crust-mantle carbon cycle is thus a previously overlooked mechanism that connects plate tectonic pulsing with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon and surface environments.

Oceanic crustal carbon cycle drives 26-million-year atmospheric carbon dioxide periodicities

PubMed Central

Müller, R. Dietmar; Dutkiewicz, Adriana

2018-01-01

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) data for the last 420 million years (My) show long-term fluctuations related to supercontinent cycles as well as shorter cycles at 26 to 32 My whose origin is unknown. Periodicities of 26 to 30 My occur in diverse geological phenomena including mass extinctions, flood basalt volcanism, ocean anoxic events, deposition of massive evaporites, sequence boundaries, and orogenic events and have previously been linked to an extraterrestrial mechanism. The vast oceanic crustal carbon reservoir is an alternative potential driving force of climate fluctuations at these time scales, with hydrothermal crustal carbon uptake occurring mostly in young crust with a strong dependence on ocean bottom water temperature. We combine a global plate model and oceanic paleo-age grids with estimates of paleo-ocean bottom water temperatures to track the evolution of the oceanic crustal carbon reservoir over the past 230 My. We show that seafloor spreading rates as well as the storage, subduction, and emission of oceanic crustal and mantle CO2 fluctuate with a period of 26 My. A connection with seafloor spreading rates and equivalent cycles in subduction zone rollback suggests that these periodicities are driven by the dynamics of subduction zone migration. The oceanic crust-mantle carbon cycle is thus a previously overlooked mechanism that connects plate tectonic pulsing with fluctuations in atmospheric carbon and surface environments. PMID:29457135

Protein molecular data from ancient (>1 million years old) fossil material: pitfalls, possibilities and grand challenges.

PubMed

Schweitzer, Mary Higby; Schroeter, Elena R; Goshe, Michael B

2014-07-15

Advances in resolution and sensitivity of analytical techniques have provided novel applications, including the analyses of fossil material. However, the recovery of original proteinaceous components from very old fossil samples (defined as >1 million years (1 Ma) from previously named limits in the literature) is far from trivial. Here, we discuss the challenges to recovery of proteinaceous components from fossils, and the need for new sample preparation techniques, analytical methods, and bioinformatics to optimize and fully utilize the great potential of information locked in the fossil record. We present evidence for survival of original components across geological time, and discuss the potential benefits of recovery, analyses, and interpretation of fossil materials older than 1 Ma, both within and outside of the fields of evolutionary biology.

85 million years of pelagic ecosystem evolution: Pacific Ocean deep-sea ichthyolith records reveal fish community dynamics and a long-term decline in sharks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sibert, E. C.; Norris, R. D.; Cuevas, J. M.; Graves, L. G.

2015-12-01

The structure and productivity of open ocean consumers has undergone major changes over the past 85 million years. Here, we present the first long-term detailed records of pelagic fish and sharks utilizing the record of ichthyoliths (teeth and dermal scales) from the deep Pacific Ocean. While the North and South Pacific Oceans show similar patterns throughout the 85 million year history, the North Pacific ichthyolith accumulation is significantly higher than the South Pacific, suggesting that the basin has been a more productive region for tens of millions of years. Fish and sharks were not abundant in the Pacific gyres until ~75 million years ago (Ma) suggesting that neither group was quantitatively important in oligotrophic pelagic food webs prior to the latest Cretaceous. Relative to ray-finned fish, sharks were common in the ancient ocean. Most ichthyolith assemblages have >50% shark dermal scales (denticles), but denticle abundance has been declining in both absolute and relative abundance since the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction. The accumulation rate of ichthyoliths of both sharks and ray-finned fish was highest in the Early Eocene, during the peak of the Cenozoic 'greenhouse' climate where production of shark dermal denticles and fish teeth increased almost five times over Paleocene production rates. Ichthyolith fluxes fell with cooler climates in the later Eocene and Oligocene, but fish production is almost always higher than in the Cretaceous and Paleocene reflecting the expanded ecological roles and importance of pelagic fish in marine ecosystems. Shark denticle production fell to less than half that of the Cretaceous by 20 Ma when it dropped abruptly to near-zero levels. Currently denticles make up <2% of the ichthyolith assemblages when present at all. Ecologically, pelagic sharks appear to be falling as major pelagic consumers over the Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic, and particularly over the past 20 Ma, perhaps reflecting demographic

A major change in North Atlantic deep water circulation during the Early Pleistocene transition 1.6 million years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khélifi, N.; Frank, M.

2013-12-01

The global ocean-climate system has been highly sensitive to the formation and advection of deep water in the North Atlantic but its evolution over the Pliocene-Pleistocene global cooling is not fully understood. In particular, changes in the sources and mixing of prevailing deep waters are not well constrained. Here we present new records of the bottom-water radiogenic neodymium isotope (ϵNd) variability obtained from three DSDP/ODP sites at water depths between 2100 and 5000 m in the Northeast Atlantic to reconstruct changes in deep water circulation over the past 4 million years. Prior to 1.6 million years ago (Ma), we find ϵNd values primarily oscillating between -9 and -11 at all sites, consistent with enhanced vertical mixing of water masses. At 1.6 Ma, the ϵNd signatures synchronously shifted to less radiogenic values around -12 at different water depths and water mass signatures gradually became more distinct. Since then values and amplitudes of "glacial/interglacial" ϵNd oscillations have been similar to the Late Quaternary at each site. This change 1.6 Ma reflects a major reorganization of deep water circulation in the Northeast Atlantic towards a more stratified water column with distinct water masses accompanying the enhanced response of climate to the Earth's obliquity forcing during the Early Pleistocene transition.

EVOLUTIONARY SYSTEMATICS OF THE CHIMPANZEE: IMMUNODIFFUSION COMPUTER APPROACH.

DTIC Science & Technology

man and gorilla, and shows increasingly more marked divergence from orangutan , gibbons, cercopithecoids, and ceboids. The method for constructing...the gibbon branch from the remaining hominoids, while the next most distant common ancestor separates the orangutan from man, chimpanzee, and gorilla...cercopithecoid-hominoid separation as 30 million years, the chimpanzee-man-gorilla separations were dated at about 6 million years, the orangutan at 14 million years, and the gibbon at about 19 million years. (Author)

Standardization of Distant Intercessory Prayer for Research on Health and Well-Being

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkinson, Kathleen Elizabeth

2007-01-01

In recent years, distant (remote) intercessory prayer has been put up against the scientific method of research. Studies are few, variable, and tend to be nongeneralizable. Lack of construct validity of the variable prayer is one of the weaknesses that opens up the research to valid critique and scrutiny. The belief that research in this field is…

A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF DISTANT OPEN CLUSTERS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Janes, Kenneth A.; Hoq, Sadia

2011-03-15

The oldest open star clusters are important for tracing the history of the Galactic disk, but many of the more distant clusters are heavily reddened and projected against the rich stellar background of the Galaxy. We have undertaken an investigation of several distant clusters (Berkeley 19, Berkeley 44, King 25, NGC 6802, NGC 6827, Berkeley 52, Berkeley 56, NGC 7142, NGC 7245, and King 9) to develop procedures for separating probable cluster members from the background field. We next created a simple quantitative approach for finding approximate cluster distances, reddenings, and ages. We first conclude that with the possible exceptionmore » of King 25 they are probably all physical clusters. We also find that for these distant clusters our typical errors are about {+-}0.07 in E(B - V), {+-}0.15 in log(age), and {+-}0.25 in (m - M){sub o}. The clusters range in age from 470 Myr to 7 Gyr and range from 7.1 to 16.4 kpc from the Galactic center.« less

Very Early Salvage Radiotherapy Improves Distant Metastasis-Free Survival.

PubMed

Abugharib, Ahmed; Jackson, William C; Tumati, Vasu; Dess, Robert T; Lee, Jae Y; Zhao, Shuang G; Soliman, Moaaz; Zumsteg, Zachary S; Mehra, Rohit; Feng, Felix Y; Morgan, Todd M; Desai, Neil; Spratt, Daniel E

2017-03-01

Early salvage radiotherapy following radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer is commonly advocated in place of adjuvant radiotherapy. We aimed to determine the optimal definition of early salvage radiotherapy. We performed a multi-institutional retrospective study of 657 men who underwent salvage radiotherapy between 1986 and 2013. Two comparisons were made to determine the optimal definition of early salvage radiotherapy, including 1) the time from radical prostatectomy to salvage radiotherapy (less than 9, 9 to 21, 22 to 47 or greater than 48 months) and 2) the level of detectable pre-salvage radiotherapy prostate specific antigen (0.01 to 0.2, greater than 0.2 to 0.5 or greater than 0.5 ng/ml). Outcomes included freedom from salvage androgen deprivation therapy, and biochemical relapse-free, distant metastases-free and prostate cancer specific survival. Median followup was 9.8 years. Time from radical prostatectomy to salvage radiotherapy did not correlate with 10-year biochemical relapse-free survival rates (R 2 = 0.18). Increasing pre-salvage radiotherapy prostate specific antigen strongly correlated with biochemical relapse-free survival (R 2 = 0.91). Increasing detectable pre-salvage radiotherapy prostate specific antigen (0.01 to 0.2, greater than 0.2 to 0.5 and greater than 0.5 ng/ml) predicted worse 10-year biochemical relapse-free survival (62%, 44% and 27%), freedom from salvage androgen deprivation therapy (77%, 66% and 49%), distant metastases-free survival (86%, 79% and 66%, each p <0.001) and prostate cancer specific survival (93%, 89% and 80%, respectively, p = 0.001). On multivariable analysis early salvage radiotherapy (prostate specific antigen greater than 0.2 to 0.5 ng/ml) was associated with a twofold increase in biochemical failure, use of salvage androgen deprivation therapy and distant metastases compared to very early salvage radiotherapy (prostate specific antigen 0.01 to 0.2 ng/ml). The duration from radical prostatectomy to salvage

Discovery of a 240 million year old nematode parasite egg in a cynodont coprolite sheds light on the early origin of pinworms in vertebrates.

PubMed

Hugot, Jean-Pierre; Gardner, Scott L; Borba, Victor; Araujo, Priscilla; Leles, Daniela; Stock Da-Rosa, Átila Augusto; Dutra, Juliana; Ferreira, Luiz Fernando; Araújo, Adauto

2014-11-13

We report the discovery of a nematode parasite egg (Nemata: Oxyurida) from a coprolite closely associated with the remains of several species of Cynodontia, dated to 240 million years old. This finding is particularly significant because this is the oldest record of an oxyurid nematode yet discovered, and because the cynodonts are considered a stem-group of the mammals. We extracted material from a fully mineralized coprolite by both scraping the surface, and removing fragments from its interior with clean dental instruments used a single time. A single drop of glycerol from a new vial was added as a clearing reagent. Each slide was sealed with wax and examined with an optical microscope at 100× to 400× magnification. From one coprolite, 550 slides were examined; from 275 of these slides, sediment was examined that was scraped from the surface of the coprolite, and from the other 275 slides, material was examined that was extracted from the interior of the coprolite. All microscopic structures encountered were photographed, measured, and identified when possible. From the coprolite examined, we discovered an egg representing a new species of pinworm that, based on the egg structure, clearly places it in the family Heteroxynematidae. Nematodes of the order Oxyurida have very constrained life-histories, occurring only in animals that are not strictly carnivorous and also ingest large amounts of plant material. This fact enabled us to determine which species of cynodont, from several collected at the site in Brazil, are most likely the depositors of the coprolite, and therefore were the putative host of the parasite.

Waiting for Shadows from the Distant Solar System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-03-01

How can we hope to measure the hundreds of thousands of objects in our distant solar system? A team of astronomers is harnessing citizen science to begin to tackle this problem!A light curve from an occultation collected by a RECON site in Quincy, California. As the objects shadow passes, the background stars light dims. [RECON/Charley Arrowsmith (Feather River College)]Occultation InformationEstimates currently place the number of Kuiper belt objects larger than 100 km across at over 100,000. Knowing the sizes and characteristics of these objects is important for understanding the composition of the outer solar system and constraining models of the solar systems formation and evolution.Unfortunately, measuring small, dim bodies at large distances is incredibly difficult! One of the best ways to obtain the sizes of these objects is to watch as they occult a distant star. Timing the object as it passes across the face of the star can give us a good measure of its size and shape, when observed from multiple stations in the path of the shadow.An Extended NetworkOccultations by nearby objects (like main-belt asteroids) can be predicted fairly accurately, but those by trans-Neptunian objects are much more poorly constrained. Only ~900 trans-Neptunian objects have approximately known paths, and occultation-shadow predictions for these objects are often only accurate to ~1000km on the Earths surface. So how can we ensure that theres a telescope in the right location, ready to observe when an occultation occurs?Map of the 56 RECON sites distributed over 2000 km in the western United States. [Buie et al. 2016]The simplest answer is to set up a huge network of observing stations, and wait for the shadows to come to the network. With this approach, even if the predicted path isnt precisely known, some of the stations will still observe the occultation.Due to the number of stations needed, this project lends itself perfectly to citizen science. In a recently published paper by

Saul Perlmutter, Distant Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating

Science.gov Websites

, Distant Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Expansion of the Universe Resources with Additional nature of dark energy.'1 'The accelerating expansion means that the universe could expand forever until , in the distant future, it is cold and dark. The teams' discovery led to speculation that there is a

Young breast cancer patients who develop distant metastasis after surgery have better survival outcomes compared with elderly counterparts.

PubMed

Wang, Jingjing; Wang, Jiayu; Li, Qing; Zhang, Pin; Yuan, Peng; Ma, Fei; Luo, Yang; Cai, Ruigang; Fan, Ying; Chen, Shanshan; Li, Qiao; Xu, Binghe

2017-07-04

To investigate the recurrence pattern and subsequent survival outcomes in young breast cancer population, 483 young patients (≤ 35) and 739 elderly patients (≥ 65), who received mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery from 2008 to 2012, were included in this study. The young population presented with a higher rate of pathologic tumor stage (P < 0.001), positive pathologic lymph node (P < 0.001), grade III tumors (P < 0.001), and lymphovascular invasion (P < 0.001). With a median follow-up of 56.5 months, young patients had a significantly lower 5-year disease-free survival (73.7% vs 83.4%, P = 0.001), while no difference in 5-year overall survival was observed (91.7% vs 91.7%, P = 0.721). The 5-year cumulative incidences of locoregional relapse (8.9% vs 4.3%, P = 0.009) and distant metastasis (18.8% vs 9.5%, P < 0.001) were significantly higher in the young population. However, for patients with distant metastasis, the survival outcomes were significantly better in the young patients (5-year overall survival since diagnosis: 60.0% vs 47.3%, P = 0.025; 5-year overall survival after recurrence: 31.0% vs 24.3%, P = 0.001). Young breast cancer patients present with more aggressive clinicopathological features and have poor prognosis compared with elderly. But young patients with distant metastasis might have better survival outcomes.

Foreclosed: Two Million Homeless Students and Counting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKibben, Sarah

2009-01-01

This article reports that according to First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy organization for children and families, a predicted two million children will lose their homes over the next two years because of the foreclosure crisis. From an economy deep in recession, an entirely new population of homeless students has emerged. And with job losses at…

Monitoring Million Trees LA: Tree performance during the early years and future benefits

Treesearch

E. Gregory McPherson

2014-01-01

Million Trees LA (MTLA) is one of several large-scale mayoral tree planting initiatives striving to create more livable cities through urban forestry. This study combined field sampling of tree survival and growth with numerical modeling of future benefits to assess performance of MTLA plantings. From 2006 to 2010 MTLA planted a diverse mix of 91,786 trees....

Influence of road network and population demand assumptions in evacuation modeling for distant tsunamis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Henry, Kevin; Wood, Nathan J.; Frazier, Tim G.

2017-01-01

Tsunami evacuation planning in coastal communities is typically focused on local events where at-risk individuals must move on foot in a matter of minutes to safety. Less attention has been placed on distant tsunamis, where evacuations unfold over several hours, are often dominated by vehicle use and are managed by public safety officials. Traditional traffic simulation models focus on estimating clearance times but often overlook the influence of varying population demand, alternative modes, background traffic, shadow evacuation, and traffic management alternatives. These factors are especially important for island communities with limited egress options to safety. We use the coastal community of Balboa Island, California (USA), as a case study to explore the range of potential clearance times prior to wave arrival for a distant tsunami scenario. We use a first-in–first-out queuing simulation environment to estimate variations in clearance times, given varying assumptions of the evacuating population (demand) and the road network over which they evacuate (supply). Results suggest clearance times are less than wave arrival times for a distant tsunami, except when we assume maximum vehicle usage for residents, employees, and tourists for a weekend scenario. A two-lane bridge to the mainland was the primary traffic bottleneck, thereby minimizing the effect of departure times, shadow evacuations, background traffic, boat-based evacuations, and traffic light timing on overall community clearance time. Reducing vehicular demand generally reduced clearance time, whereas improvements to road capacity had mixed results. Finally, failure to recognize non-residential employee and tourist populations in the vehicle demand substantially underestimated clearance time.

Vital signs of life on distant worlds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-01-01

for less than a century. Malcolm Fridlund, Project Scientist for ESA's Darwin mission says, "If other planets follow the Earth's pattern, it is much more likely that they will be inhabited by dinosaurs or even bacteria than by something that can count." In the 1970s, the British scientist James Lovelock pointed out that, just by breathing, life affects the composition of the Earth's atmosphere. He suggested looking for similar effects as a way to search with telescopes for life on other planets. You can study the composition of an atmosphere by splitting a planet's light into a rainbow of colours. This 'spectrum' will contain dark lines made by various chemicals in the planet's atmosphere. Darwin's strategy is to look for oxygen because oxygen is used by some life forms and produced as waste by others. Scientists believe that without life, all free oxygen in a planet's atmosphere would disappear within just four million years, because it reacts so easily with other chemicals. "The best estimates suggest that Darwin will be able to detect the build-up of oxygen caused within a few hundred million years of life's origin," says Fridlund. Although Darwin will not detect oxygen directly, it will 'see' ozone, a form of oxygen. It will also see carbon dioxide, water, and, in certain cases, methane. Fridlund says, "The general consensus is that if we find ozone, liquid water, and carbon dioxide simultaneously, it will be a very strong indicator of life's presence." The work will not stop once Darwin completes its survey of the nearest several thousand star-planet systems. Once it finds a living planet, the race will be on to understand the nature of its life forms. That means searching for more specific biomarkers. In future space missions, for example, scientists may use chlorophyll as a biomarker. This molecule allows plants and certain bacteria to use light as an energy source. "Finding the next generation of biomarkers is a very active field of research at the moment

The Influence of Diabetes Mellitus and Metformin on Distant Metastases in Oropharyngeal Cancer: A Multicenter Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spratt, Daniel E.; Beadle, Beth M.; Zumsteg, Zachary S., E-mail: zachary.zumsteg@cshs.org

Purpose: Local control in oropharyngeal cancer has improved to unprecedented rates with combined modality therapy; as a result, distant metastases are becoming a principal challenge. We aimed to determine the impact of diabetes mellitus and metformin use on clinical outcomes in a large population of oropharyngeal cancer patients treated in the modern era. Methods and Materials: We identified 1745 consecutive patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated at 2 large cancer centers with external beam radiation therapy from 1998 to 2011. A total of 184 patients had diabetes mellitus at the time of diagnosis, of whom 102 were taking metformin. The outcomesmore » assessed included local failure-free survival (LFFS), regional failure-free survival (RFFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival (OS). Results: The median follow-up time was 4.3 years. The 5-year actuarial rates of DMFS were 89.6% for nondiabetic patients and 78.7% for diabetic nonmetformin users (P=.011) and of OS were 83.0% for nondiabetic patients and 70.7% for diabetic nonmetformin users (P=.048). Diabetic metformin users had 5-year DMFS (90.1%) and OS (89.6%) similar to those of nondiabetic patients. Multivariate analysis (diabetic nonmetformin users as reference) demonstrated improved DMFS for nondiabetic patients (adjusted hazard ratio 0.54; 95% confidence interval 0.32-0.93; P=.03) and a trend toward improved DMFS with metformin use (adjusted hazard ratio 0.46; 95% confidence interval 0.20-1.04; P=.06). LFFS and RFFS were high in all groups and were not significantly different by diabetic status or metformin use. Conclusions: Diabetic patients not using metformin independently have significantly higher rates of distant metastases than do nondiabetic patients, whereas metformin users have rates of distant metastases similar to those of nondiabetic patients. Further prospective investigation is warranted to validate the benefit of metformin in oropharyngeal cancer.« less

Celebrating the International Year of Light in Michigan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sala, Anca L.; Dreyer, Elizabeth F. C.; Aku-Leh, Cynthia; Jones, Timothy; Nees, John A.; Smith, Arlene

2016-09-01

The 2015 International Year of Light created a wonderful opportunity to bring light and optics events and activities to people of all ages and occupations in Michigan. A large spectrum of events took place; from events held in schools, colleges, and universities targeting various groups of students, to events associated with festivals attended by large crowds. The latter included the Ann Arbor Summer Festival held in June and the Flint Back-to-the-Bricks Festival in August. All events included interactive activities where participants learned hands-on about optics and photonics phenomena and applications. Original demonstrations and kits were developed by the Ann Arbor OSA Local Section and the Optics Society at the University of Michigan, the joint OSA/SPIE student chapter, for use during the events. The activities were funded through the student chapter's SPIE grant for IYL outreach events and corporate sponsorships. Under the name Michigan Light Project, these groups along with local technology enthusiasts and science clubs delivered several events across Michigan. Other events took place throughout the year in Mid-Michigan through the efforts of faculty and students in the Photonics and Laser Technology program at Baker College of Flint. The outreach events targeted students in K-12. Teachers, counselors, and parents also learned about the importance of optics and photonics in society. The activities developed will continue this year and in the future. The paper will provide details on the completed events and activities along with tips for implementing similar activities and outreach partnerships in other areas.

40 CFR 86.097-9 - Emission standards for 1997 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....097-9 Emission standards for 1997 and later model year light-duty trucks. (a)(1) Standards—(i) Light... standards. (ii) Heavy light-duty trucks. (A) Exhaust emissions from 1997 and later model year heavy light... model year light-duty trucks from compliance at low altitude with the emission standards set forth in...

Hospital saves $1 million by outsourcing laundry.

PubMed

1999-04-01

Thirty-five percent of hospitals nationwide are outsourcing laundry services, according to the Textile Rental Services Association. Pennsylvania Hospital cut its cost per pound of laundry from 61.5 cents to 46 cents, saving $1 million in its first year of outsourcing. Outsourcing also brought the hospital better inventory control, more efficient delivery, and fewer complaints about missing items.

Outcomes of surgery for gastric cancer with distant metastases: a retrospective study from the SEER database

PubMed Central

Weng, Shanshan; Dong, Caixia; Zhu, Lizhen; Yang, Ziru; Zhong, Jing; Yuan, Ying

2017-01-01

Background The role of surgical therapy in gastric cancer patients with distant metastases remains controversial. This retrospective analysis was performed to identify whether gastric cancer patients with distant metastases might benefit from surgery. Patients and methods A total of 5185 patients from the SEER database who were initially diagnosed with histologically confirmed gastric cancer with distant metastases from 2004 to 2009 were included. Patients were divided into the following three groups: patients who underwent resection of both the primary tumor and distant metastatic tumors (‘PMTR’ group), patients who only underwent resection of the primary tumor (‘PTR’ group) and patients who did not undergo any surgery (‘No surgery’ group). We employed the Kaplan-Meier analysis, the log-rank test and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the survival time of the different groups. Results A total of 5185 patients had a median survival time (MST) of 9.0 months. The improvement in survival of the ‘PMTR’ and ‘PTR’ groups was significantly different compared with that of the ‘No surgery’ group (MST, 12.0 vs 12.0 vs 9.0 months, respectively, P<0.001; 1-year survival rate, 49.6% vs 49.1% vs 30.1%, respectively, P<0.001; 3-year survival rate, 12.5% vs 15.1% vs 5.8%, respectively, P<0.001), whereas no significant difference was found between the ‘PMTR’ group and ‘PTR’ group (P=0.642). Multivariate Cox proportional analysis showed that surgery was an independent prognostic factor (‘PMTR’, hazard ratio (HR) =0.648, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.574-0.733, P<0.001; ‘PTR’, HR=0.631, 95% CI 0.583-0.684, P<0.001). Conclusions This retrospective analysis demonstrated that combined PTR and metastasectomy or PTR alone were independent prognostic factors for survival improvement in gastric cancer patients with distant metastases. Because no statistically significant difference in survival was observed between the

Continuously growing rodent molars result from a predictable quantitative evolutionary change over 50 million years

PubMed Central

Mushegyan, Vagan; Eronen, Jussi T.; Lawing, A. Michelle; Sharir, Amnon; Janis, Christine; Jernvall, Jukka; Klein, Ophir D.

2015-01-01

Summary The fossil record is widely informative about evolution, but fossils are not systematically used to study the evolution of stem cell-driven renewal. Here, we examined evolution of the continuous growth (hypselodonty) of rodent molar teeth, which is fuelled by the presence of dental stem cells. We studied occurrences of 3500 North American rodent fossils, ranging from 50 million years ago (mya) to 2 mya. We examined changes in molar height to determine if evolution of hypselodonty shows distinct patterns in the fossil record, and we found that hypselodont taxa emerged through intermediate forms of increasing crown height. Next, we designed a Markov simulation model, which replicated molar height increases throughout the Cenozoic, and, moreover, evolution of hypselodonty. Thus, by extension, the retention of the adult stem-cell niche appears to be a predictable quantitative rather than a stochastic qualitative process. Our analyses predict that hypselodonty will eventually become the dominant phenotype. PMID:25921530

Fixture Design for Motion Picture and Theatrical Lighting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dandridge, Susan

1987-02-01

I am the Marketing Manager for a fairly good-sized company in a very small industry which is dependent on the efforts of the kind of people attending this conference. Strand Lighting and other companies like mine supply the lighting needs of the entertainment industry. We listen to people like Dan Flannery and Bran Ferrren as well as thousands of other creative, artistic designers, manufacturing the tools they need to bring you everything from Hamlet to Dynasty, from Masterpiece Theatre to The Price is Right. We design and manufacture dimmers, computerized control equipment for the dimmers, and lighting fixtures.It it the issue of lighting fixtures for our industry that brings me here today. The total yearly volume of the entire entertainment lighting industry is estimated at only $70 million. Compare that to the billions of the defense or medical industries.

Atypical Distant Metastasis of Breast Malignant Phyllodes Tumors: A Case Report and Literature Review.

PubMed

de Foucher, Tiphaine; Roussel, Hélène; Hivelin, Mikael; Rossi, Léa; Cornou, Caroline; Bats, Anne-Sophie; Deloménie, Myriam; Lécuru, Fabrice; Ngô, Charlotte

2017-01-01

Malignant phyllodes tumors (MPT) are rare breast neoplasms. Preoperative diagnosis is often challenging due to the unspecific clinical, radiological, and histological characteristics of the tumor. Dissemination pathways are local with chest wall invasion, regional with lymph nodes metastasis, and distant, hematogenous, mostly to the lungs, bones, and brain. Distant metastasis (DM) can be synchronous or appear months to years after the diagnosis and initial management. The current report describes the case of a 57-year-old woman presenting with a giant/neglected MPT of the breast, with no DM at initial staging, treated by radical modified mastectomy. Motor disorders due to medullar compression by a paravertebral mass appeared at short follow-up, also treated surgically. The patient died from several DM of rapid evolution. To our knowledge, this is the only case described of MPT with metastases to soft tissue causing medullar compression. We present a literature review on unusual metastatic localizations of MPT.

ASCA Observations of Distant Clusters of Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuru, T. G.

We present results from ASCA observation of distant clusters of galaxies. The observed clusters are as follows; CL0016+16, A370, A959, AC118, Zw3136, MS1305.4+2941, A1851, A963, A2163, MS0839.8+2938, A665, A1689, A2218, A586 and A1413. The covering range of the redshifts is 0.14-0.55 and their average red-shift is 0.245. The negative correlation between the metal abundance and the plasma temperature seen in near clusters is also detected in the distant clusters. No apparent difference between the two correlation. It suggests no strong metal evolution has been made from z = 0.2-0.3 to z = 0. Data of velocity dispersion is available for seven clusters among our samples. All the betaspec of them are above the average of near clusters. The average betaspec for the distant clusters obtained to be betaspec = 1.85 with an rms scatter of 0.62. The value is significantly higher than the near clusters' value of betaspec = 0.94 plus or minus 0.08 with an rms scatter of 0.46.

Technical/commercial feasibility study of the production of fuel-grade ethanol from corn: 100-million-gallon-per-year production facility in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana. Volume one. Executive summary

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1982-05-31

This Executive Summary is Volume I of 7 volumes of a detailed feasibility study for a 100 million gallon/year Power Alcohol plant using corn as feedstock to be constructed in the vicinity of Belle Chaise, Louisiana, adjacent to an existing grain elevator complex. The proposed plant will ultimately have the capability to produce 100 million gallons/year of anhydrous alcohol from an estimated 40 million bushels of corn and will be designed so as to allow construction in modules of 25 million gallons each. Alcohol produced at this plant is intended essentially for use as a gasoline octane booster, a motormore » fuel in gasoline/alcohol blends and as a chemical feedstock. In addition, the plant will produce a number of by-products, each of which has existing commercial markets; namely, 236,400 tons of CO/sub 2/ 237,600 tons of Protein Meal Mixture (40.2% Protein) or 124,000 tons of Gluten Meal (41% Protein), 20,000 tons of yeast, 68,400 tons of Corn Bran, 89,600 tons of Corn Germ Cake and 4,584,000 gallons of Corn Oil (food grade).« less

Nurse plants transfer more nitrogen to distantly related species.

PubMed

Montesinos-Navarro, Alicia; Verdú, Miguel; Querejeta, José Ignacio; Valiente-Banuet, Alfonso

2017-05-01

Plant facilitative interactions enhance co-occurrence between distant relatives, partly due to limited overlap in resource requirements. We propose a different mechanism for the coexistence of distant relatives based on positive interactions of nutrient sharing. Nutrients move between plants following source-sink gradients driven by plant traits that allow these gradients to establish. Specifically, nitrogen (N) concentration gradients can arise from variation in leaf N content across plants species. As many ecologically relevant traits, we hypothesize that leaf N content is phylogenetically conserved and can result in N gradients promoting N transfer among distant relatives. In a Mexican desert community governed by facilitation, we labelled nurse plants (Mimosa luisana) with 15 N and measured its transfer to 14 other species in the community, spanning the range of phylogenetic distances to the nurse plant. Nurses established steeper N source-sink gradients with distant relatives, increasing 15 N transfer toward these species. Nutrient sharing may provide long-term benefits to facilitated plants and may be an overlooked mechanism maintaining coexistence and increasing the phylogenetic diversity of plant communities. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Method and apparatus for determining return stroke polarity of distant lightning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blakeslee, Richard J. (Inventor); Brook, Marx (Inventor)

1992-01-01

A method is described for determining the return stroke polarity of distant lightning for distances beyond 600 km by detecting the electric field associated with a return stroke of distant lightning, and processing the electric field signal to determine the polarity of the slow tail of the VLF waveform signal associated with the detected electric field. The polarity of the return stroke of distant lightning is determined based upon the polarity of the slow tail portion of the waveform.

Method and apparatus for determining return stroke polarity of distant lightning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Blakeslee, Richard J. (Inventor); Brook, Marx (Inventor)

1990-01-01

A method is described for determining the return stroke polarity of distant lightning for distances beyond 600 km by detecting the electric field associated with a return stroke of distant lightning, and processing the electric field signal to determine the polarity of the slow tail of the VLF waveform signal associated with the detected electric field. The polarity of the return stroke of distant lightning is determined based upon the polarity of the slow tail portion of the waveform.

Effects of weather conditions, light conditions, and road lighting on vehicle speed.

PubMed

Jägerbrand, Annika K; Sjöbergh, Jonas

2016-01-01

Light conditions are known to affect the number of vehicle accidents and fatalities but the relationship between light conditions and vehicle speed is not fully understood. This study examined whether vehicle speed on roads is higher in daylight and under road lighting than in darkness, and determined the combined effects of light conditions, posted speed limit and weather conditions on driving speed. The vehicle speed of passenger cars in different light conditions (daylight, twilight, darkness, artificial light) and different weather conditions (clear weather, rain, snow) was determined using traffic and weather data collected on an hourly basis for approximately 2 years (1 September 2012-31 May 2014) at 25 locations in Sweden (17 with road lighting and eight without). In total, the data included almost 60 million vehicle passes. The data were cleaned by removing June, July, and August, which have different traffic patterns than the rest of the year. Only data from the periods 10:00 A.M.-04:00 P.M. and 06:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M. were used, to remove traffic during rush hour and at night. Multivariate adaptive regression splines was used to evaluate the overall influence of independent variables on vehicle speed and nonparametric statistical testing was applied to test for speed differences between dark-daylight, dark-twilight, and twilight-daylight, on roads with and without road lighting. The results show that vehicle speed in general depends on several independent variables. Analyses of vehicle speed and speed differences between daylight, twilight and darkness, with and without road lighting, did not reveal any differences attributable to light conditions. However, vehicle speed decreased due to rain or snow and the decrease was higher on roads without road lighting than on roads with lighting. These results suggest that the strong association between traffic accidents and darkness or low light conditions could be explained by drivers failing to adjust their

Double streams of protons in the distant geomagnetic tail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Villante, U.; Lazarus, A. J.

1975-01-01

Two intermingled streams of protons have been observed in the distant geomagnetic tail. The number densities of the two streams are comparable, and their velocity difference tends to lie along the field direction. The lower-velocity stream is probably composed of magnetosheath protons which have diffused through the boundary of the distant tail. The higher-velocity stream appears to originate in the field reversal region.

Phase-Tuned Entangled State Generation between Distant Spin Qubits.

PubMed

Stockill, R; Stanley, M J; Huthmacher, L; Clarke, E; Hugues, M; Miller, A J; Matthiesen, C; Le Gall, C; Atatüre, M

2017-07-07

Quantum entanglement between distant qubits is an important feature of quantum networks. Distribution of entanglement over long distances can be enabled through coherently interfacing qubit pairs via photonic channels. Here, we report the realization of optically generated quantum entanglement between electron spin qubits confined in two distant semiconductor quantum dots. The protocol relies on spin-photon entanglement in the trionic Λ system and quantum erasure of the Raman-photon path information. The measurement of a single Raman photon is used to project the spin qubits into a joint quantum state with an interferometrically stabilized and tunable relative phase. We report an average Bell-state fidelity for |ψ^{(+)}⟩ and |ψ^{(-)}⟩ states of 61.6±2.3% and a record-high entanglement generation rate of 7.3 kHz between distant qubits.

Phase-Tuned Entangled State Generation between Distant Spin Qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stockill, R.; Stanley, M. J.; Huthmacher, L.; Clarke, E.; Hugues, M.; Miller, A. J.; Matthiesen, C.; Le Gall, C.; Atatüre, M.

2017-07-01

Quantum entanglement between distant qubits is an important feature of quantum networks. Distribution of entanglement over long distances can be enabled through coherently interfacing qubit pairs via photonic channels. Here, we report the realization of optically generated quantum entanglement between electron spin qubits confined in two distant semiconductor quantum dots. The protocol relies on spin-photon entanglement in the trionic Λ system and quantum erasure of the Raman-photon path information. The measurement of a single Raman photon is used to project the spin qubits into a joint quantum state with an interferometrically stabilized and tunable relative phase. We report an average Bell-state fidelity for |ψ(+)⟩ and |ψ(-)⟩ states of 61.6 ±2.3 % and a record-high entanglement generation rate of 7.3 kHz between distant qubits.

25+ Years of the Hubble Space Telescope and a Simple Error That Cost Millions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakerin, Said

2016-01-01

A simple mistake in properly setting up a measuring device caused millions of dollars to be spent in correcting the initial optical failure of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This short article is intended as a lesson for a physics laboratory and discussion of errors in measurement.

Iridium profile for 10 million years across the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary at Gubbio (Italy)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Alvarez, Walter; Asaro, Frank; Montanari, Alessandro

1990-01-01

The iridium anomaly at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) boundary was discovered in the pelagic limestone sequence at Gubbio on the basis of 12 samples analyzed by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and was interpreted as indicating impact of a large extraterrestrial object at exactly the time of the KT mass extinction. Continuing controversy over the shape of the Ir profile at the Gubbio KT boundary and its interpretation called for a more detailed follow-up study. Analysis of a 57-meter-thick, 10-million-year-old part of the Gubbio sequence using improved NAA techniques revealed that there is only one Ir anomaly at the KT boundary, but this anomaly shows an intricate fine structure, the origin of which cannot yet be entirely explained. The KT Ir anomaly peaks in a 1-centimeter-thick clay layer, where the average Ir concentration is 3000 parts per trillion (ppt); this peak is flanked by tails with Ir concentrations of 20 to 80 ppt that rise above a background of 12 to 13 ppt. The fine structure of the tails is probably due in part to lateral reworking, diffusion, burrowing, and perhaps Milankovitch cyclicity.

Adaptive evolution of voltage-gated sodium channels: The first 800 million years

PubMed Central

Zakon, Harold H.

2012-01-01

Voltage-gated Na+-permeable (Nav) channels form the basis for electrical excitability in animals. Nav channels evolved from Ca2+ channels and were present in the common ancestor of choanoflagellates and animals, although this channel was likely permeable to both Na+ and Ca2+. Thus, like many other neuronal channels and receptors, Nav channels predated neurons. Invertebrates possess two Nav channels (Nav1 and Nav2), whereas vertebrate Nav channels are of the Nav1 family. Approximately 500 Mya in early chordates Nav channels evolved a motif that allowed them to cluster at axon initial segments, 50 million years later with the evolution of myelin, Nav channels “capitalized” on this property and clustered at nodes of Ranvier. The enhancement of conduction velocity along with the evolution of jaws likely made early gnathostomes fierce predators and the dominant vertebrates in the ocean. Later in vertebrate evolution, the Nav channel gene family expanded in parallel in tetrapods and teleosts (∼9 to 10 genes in amniotes, 8 in teleosts). This expansion occurred during or after the late Devonian extinction, when teleosts and tetrapods each diversified in their respective habitats, and coincided with an increase in the number of telencephalic nuclei in both groups. The expansion of Nav channels may have allowed for more sophisticated neural computation and tailoring of Nav channel kinetics with potassium channel kinetics to enhance energy savings. Nav channels show adaptive sequence evolution for increasing diversity in communication signals (electric fish), in protection against lethal Nav channel toxins (snakes, newts, pufferfish, insects), and in specialized habitats (naked mole rats). PMID:22723361

Outskirts of Distant Galaxies in Absorption

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Hsiao-Wen

QSO absorption spectroscopy provides a sensitive probe of both the neutral medium and diffuse ionized gas in the distant Universe. It extends 21 cm maps of gaseous structures around low-redshift galaxies both to lower gas column densities and to higher redshifts. Combining galaxy surveys with absorption-line observations of gas around galaxies enables comprehensive studies of baryon cycles in galaxy outskirts over cosmic time. This chapter presents a review of the empirical understanding of the cosmic neutral gas reservoir from studies of damped Lyα absorbers (DLAs). It describes the constraints on the star formation relation and chemical enrichment history in the outskirts of distant galaxies from DLA studies. A brief discussion of available constraints on the ionized circumgalactic gas from studies of lower column density Lyα absorbers and associated ionic absorption transitions is presented at the end.

Tumor Microenvironment of Metastasis and Risk of Distant Metastasis of Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Xue, Xiaonan; Lin, Hung-Mo; D’Alfonso, Timothy M.; Ginter, Paula S.; Oktay, Maja H.; Robinson, Brian D.; Ginsberg, Mindy; Gertler, Frank B.; Glass, Andrew G.; Sparano, Joseph A.; Condeelis, John S.; Jones, Joan G.

2014-01-01

Background Tumor microenvironment of metastasis (TMEM), consisting of direct contact between a macrophage, an endothelial cell, and a tumor cell, has been associated with metastasis in both rodent mammary tumors and human breast cancer. We prospectively examined the association between TMEM score and risk of distant metastasis and compared risk associated with TMEM score with that associated with IHC4. Methods We conducted a case–control study nested within a cohort of 3760 patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma diagnosed between 1980 and 2000 and followed through 2010. Case patients were women who developed a subsequent distant metastasis; control subjects were matched (1:1) on age at and calendar year of primary diagnosis. TMEM was assessed by triple immunostain and IHC4 by standard methods; slides were read by pathologists blinded to outcome. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression, adjusted for clinical variables. A Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis was performed, and the area under the curve was estimated. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results TMEM score was associated with increased risk of distant metastasis in estrogen receptor (ER)+/human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2)− tumors (multivariable OR high vs low tertile = 2.70; 95% CI = 1.39 to 5.26; P trend = .004), whereas IHC4 score had a borderline positive association (OR10 unit increase = 1.06; 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.13); the association for TMEM score persisted after adjustment for IHC4 score. The area under the curve for TMEM, adjusted for clinical variables, was 0.78. Neither TMEM score nor IHC4 score was independently associated with metastatic risk overall or in the triple negative or HER2+ subgroups. Conclusions TMEM score predicted risk of distant metastasis in ER+/HER2− breast cancer independently of IHC4 score and classical clinicopathologic features. PMID:24895374

Functionally conserved enhancers with divergent sequences in distant vertebrates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Song; Oksenberg, Nir; Takayama, Sachiko

To examine the contributions of sequence and function conservation in the evolution of enhancers, we systematically identified enhancers whose sequences are not conserved among distant groups of vertebrate species, but have homologous function and are likely to be derived from a common ancestral sequence. In conclusion, our approach combined comparative genomics and epigenomics to identify potential enhancer sequences in the genomes of three groups of distantly related vertebrate species.

Functionally conserved enhancers with divergent sequences in distant vertebrates

DOE PAGES

Yang, Song; Oksenberg, Nir; Takayama, Sachiko; ...

2015-10-30

To examine the contributions of sequence and function conservation in the evolution of enhancers, we systematically identified enhancers whose sequences are not conserved among distant groups of vertebrate species, but have homologous function and are likely to be derived from a common ancestral sequence. In conclusion, our approach combined comparative genomics and epigenomics to identify potential enhancer sequences in the genomes of three groups of distantly related vertebrate species.

Snake Envenomation Causing Distant Tracheal Myonecrosis

PubMed Central

Khimani, Amina; Mcnierney, Afton; Surani, Sara; Surani, Salim

2013-01-01

Snakebites are often believed to be poisonous. However, this is not always the case. In fact, each bite differs from snake to snake, depending on if the snake is poisonous and if there is envenomation. Venom in pit viper snakebites is often associated with local necrosis. The abundant literature selections and research articles justify local myonecrosis due to envenomation, but there is not much in the literature regarding myonecrosis at a site distant from the snakebite. We hereby present a case of a 42-year-old man who was transferred to our emergency department after a rattlesnake bit him twice. The patient, besides developing local myonecrosis at the site of the snakebite, developed necrosis of the scrotum as well as tracheal pressure myonecrosis at the site of the endotracheal tube balloon. In this review, we will attempt to discuss the myonecrosis pathophysiology and management related to the rattle snakebite. PMID:24083047

Virtual dissection and lifestyle of a 165 -million-year-old female polychelidan lobster.

PubMed

Jauvion, Clément; Audo, Denis; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Vannier, Jean

2016-03-01

Polychelidan lobsters are fascinating crustaceans that were known as fossils before being discovered in the deep-sea. They differ from other crustaceans by having four to five pairs of claws. Although recent palaeontological studies have clarified the systematics and phylogeny of the group, the biology of extant polychelidans and--first of all--their anatomy are poorly documented. Numerous aspects of the evolutionary history of the group remain obscure, in particular, how and when polychelidans colonized the deep-sea and became restricted to it. Surprisingly, the biology of extant polychelidans and the anatomy of all species, fossil and recent, are poorly documented. Here, X-ray microtomography (XTM), applied to an exceptionally well-preserved specimen from the La Voulte Lagerstätte, reveals for the first time vital aspects of the external and internal morphology of Voulteryon parvulus (Eryonidae), a 165-million-year-old polychelidan: 1) its mouthparts (maxillae and maxillipeds), 2) its digestive tract and 3) its reproductive organs. Comparisons with dissected specimens clearly identify this specimen as a female with mature ovaries. This set of new information offers new insights into the feeding and reproductive habits of Mesozoic polychelidans. Contrasting with other Jurassic polychelidans that lived in shallow-water environments, V. parvulus spawned in, and probably inhabited, relatively deep-water environments, as do the survivors of the group. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Book Review: Distant wanderers / Copernicus Books/Springer , 2001/2002

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhatt, H. C.

2002-06-01

Are we alone in the Universe? The Earth, teeming with life, as we know it, is only one amongst the nine planets (wanderers) that wander around the Sun in more or less circular orbits. Do distant stars also have planets circling them? Are some of them similar to Earth and support life? These questions have long occupied the human mind. However, until the closing years of the twentieth century, the idea that there are stars, other than the Sun, that have planets orbiting them, remained a subject of speculation and controversy because the astronomical observing techniques used for the detection of planetary companions of stars did not have the necessary precision. During the past several years, advances in technology and dedicated efforts of planet-hunting astronomers have made it possible to detect Jupiter-like or more massive planets around nearby stars. So far about 70 such extra-solar planets have been discovered indicating that our solar system is not unique and distant wanderers are not uncommon. Distant Wanderers narrates the story of the search for extra-solar planets, even as the search is becoming more vigorous with newer instruments pushing the limits of sensitivity that has often resulted in the detection of planetary systems with totally unexpected characteristics. The book is primarily aimed at non specialists, but practicing scientists, including astronomers, will find the narrative very interesting and sometimes offering a perspective that is unfamiliar to professionals. The book begins with an introduction to some basic astronomical facts about the Universe, evolution of stars, supernovae and formation of pulsars. The first extra-solar planets were discovered in 1992 around a radio pulsar (PSR 1257+12) by measuring the oscillatory perturbations in the pulse arrival times from the pulsar caused by the presence of orbiting earth-sized planets as their gravity forces the pulsar also to move in orbit around the system barycenter. Such planetary systems

Reduced-complexity multi-site rainfall generation: one million years over night using the model TripleM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Breinl, Korbinian; Di Baldassarre, Giuliano; Girons Lopez, Marc

2017-04-01

We assess uncertainties of multi-site rainfall generation across spatial scales and different climatic conditions. Many research subjects in earth sciences such as floods, droughts or water balance simulations require the generation of long rainfall time series. In large study areas the simulation at multiple sites becomes indispensable to account for the spatial rainfall variability, but becomes more complex compared to a single site due to the intermittent nature of rainfall. Weather generators can be used for extrapolating rainfall time series, and various models have been presented in the literature. Even though the large majority of multi-site rainfall generators is based on similar methods, such as resampling techniques or Markovian processes, they often become too complex. We think that this complexity has been a limit for the application of such tools. Furthermore, the majority of multi-site rainfall generators found in the literature are either not publicly available or intended for being applied at small geographical scales, often only in temperate climates. Here we present a revised, and now publicly available, version of a multi-site rainfall generation code first applied in 2014 in Austria and France, which we call TripleM (Multisite Markov Model). We test this fast and robust code with daily rainfall observations from the United States, in a subtropical, tropical and temperate climate, using rain gauge networks with a maximum site distance above 1,000km, thereby generating one million years of synthetic time series. The modelling of these one million years takes one night on a recent desktop computer. In this research, we first start the simulations with a small station network of three sites and progressively increase the number of sites and the spatial extent, and analyze the changing uncertainties for multiple statistical metrics such as dry and wet spells, rainfall autocorrelation, lagged cross correlations and the inter-annual rainfall

Distant metastasis of intraosseous dentinogenic ghost cell tumour to the donor site of a bone graft

PubMed Central

Park, H-R; Min, J-H; Huh, K-H; Yi, W-J; Heo, M-S; Lee, S-S; Cho, Y-A

2013-01-01

A dentinogenic ghost cell tumour (DGCT) is an extremely rare odontogenic tumour which is considered as a solid, neoplastic variant of calcifying odontogenic cyst. Intraosseous DGCTs are more aggressive than extraosseous DGCTs and have a high propensity for local recurrence. This report describes a case of a diagnosis of recurrent DGCT at the primary site and a distant donor site. A 25-year-old female patient visited a dental hospital for a complaint of facial swelling for the previous month. Incisional biopsy was performed and the specimen was diagnosed as DGCT. Partial mandibulectomy for tumour resection and iliac bone graft was performed. 2 years later, the tumour recurred on the mandible and iliac bone. The recurrent lesion on the donor site was diagnosed as metastasized DGCT. This report highlights the possibility of distant metastasis occurring at a graft donor site. PMID:23420853

Chandra Observes Cloud Powered by Black Hole in Distant Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2000-06-01

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has shown that a large gas cloud is being blasted by X rays from the vicinity of a giant black hole which lurks in its center. The observation is of special interest because it shows the disruptive effects that a massive black hole can have over thousands of light years. The results are being presented today by Drs. Patrick M. Ogle, Herman L. Marshall, Julia C. Lee, and Claude Canizares of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, at the 196th national meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Rochester, NY. The observation also demonstrates that the searchlight beam of X rays from the black hole can be used to probe the environment around a black hole. The galaxy NGC 4151 is located at a distance of 50 million light years in a direction just south of the Big Dipper. It is a prominent example of a class of galaxies that show unusual energetic activity in their nucleus. This activity is now known to be due to the presence of a giant black hole in the nucleus with an estimated mass 10 million times that of the Sun. As matter swirls toward the black hole, it releases a prodigious amount of energy, much of it in X rays. Previous observations showed that X rays are also coming from an enormous cloud 3000 light years across that surrounds the black hole. The precise mirrors of Chandra allowed astronomers to make an X-ray image showing unprecedented detail of the massive cloud in the center of NGC 4151. The brightest regions in the cloud correspond to wisps that were previously observed in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope. The shape of the cloud confirms that X rays from the black hole are collimated into a narrow beam, and illuminate only certain quadrants of the galaxy. "The black hole is shining an X-ray searchlight which illuminates the clouds in the night sky of NGC 4151" said Ogle. By using the High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG), astronomers were able to resolve the X-ray spectrum from the

Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hein, Andrew S.; Woodward, John; Marrero, Shasta M.; Dunning, Stuart A.; Steig, Eric J.; Freeman, Stewart P. H. T.; Stuart, Finlay M.; Winter, Kate; Westoby, Matthew J.; Sugden, David E.

2016-02-01

Past fluctuations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are of fundamental interest because of the possibility of WAIS collapse in the future and a consequent rise in global sea level. However, the configuration and stability of the ice sheet during past interglacial periods remains uncertain. Here we present geomorphological evidence and multiple cosmogenic nuclide data from the southern Ellsworth Mountains to suggest that the divide of the WAIS has fluctuated only modestly in location and thickness for at least the last 1.4 million years. Fluctuations during glacial-interglacial cycles appear superimposed on a long-term trajectory of ice-surface lowering relative to the mountains. This implies that as a minimum, a regional ice sheet centred on the Ellsworth-Whitmore uplands may have survived Pleistocene warm periods. If so, it constrains the WAIS contribution to global sea level rise during interglacials to about 3.3 m above present.

Effects of Distant Green Space on Physical Activity in Sydney, Australia.

PubMed

Chong, Shanley; Byun, Roy; Mazumdar, Soumya; Bauman, Adrian; Jalaludin, Bin

2017-01-01

The aim was to investigate the association between distant green space and physical activity modified by local green space. Information about physical activity, demographic and socioeconomic background at the individual level was extracted from the New South Wales Population Health Survey. The proportion of a postcode that was parkland was used as a proxy measure for access to parklands and was calculated for each individual. There was a significant relationship between distant green space and engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at least once a week. No significant relationship was found between adequate physical activity and distant green space. No significant relationships were found between adequate physical activity, engaging in MVPA, and local green space. However, if respondents lived in greater local green space (≥25%), there was a significant relationship between engaging in MVPA at least once a week and distance green space of ≥20%. This study highlights the important effect of distant green space on physical activity. Our findings also suggest that moderate size of local green space together with moderate size of distant green space are important levers for participation of physical activity.

Discovery, Orbit and Orbital Evolution of the Distant Object (463368) 2012 VU85

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wlodarczyk, I.; Černis, K.; Boyle, R. P.

2017-03-01

We present the discovery and time evolution of orbital elements of the distant Centaur-type object (463368) 2012 VU85. From all 2135 distant objects listed in the Minor Planet Center we select all 347 numbered distant object and integrate their equations of motion in the 1 Gyr forward and backward integration. The asteroid (463368) 2012 VU85 lies on the border of the group of 347 distant objects, which have a semimajor axis about 44 a.u., eccentricity 0.1 and inclination between 0° and 30°. We show that after 1 Gyr of forward integration, about half of the objects are expelled from the Solar System, \\ie their median lifetime is about 1 Gyr. We note that the long-lived distant objects are mainly located between the regions where Neptune controls aphelia of asteroids and the asteroids are in the mean motion resonance 2/3 with Neptune. We find eight almost regular approaches of clones of the asteroid (463368) 2012 VU85 to Neptune and several generally shorter in time regular approaches to Uranus. For other outer planets we did not detect any approaches below 5 a.u. for a period of 15 000 yr in forward and backward integrations. In our calculations we find eight episodes, each lasting about 3000 yr when the value of inclination oscillates around its average. These changes look similar to the changes of semimajor axis during the occurrence of orbital mean motion resonance with a planet. We find that half of the clones of the asteroid (463368) 2012 VU85 remain in the Solar System for a forward integration of 44 Myr, and for a backward integration of 34 Myr. This is a significantly shorter escape time as compared to the group of distant objects. Almost all long-lived clones have value of Tisserand parameter with respect to Neptune smaller than 3 during the whole 1 Gyr forward and backward integrations. This implies that there are several clones of the asteroid (463368) 2012 VU85 that cross the orbits of Neptune and Uranus. We find many orbital mean motion resonances

Million-degree plasma pervading the extended Orion Nebula.

PubMed

Güdel, Manuel; Briggs, Kevin R; Montmerle, Thierry; Audard, Marc; Rebull, Luisa; Skinner, Stephen L

2008-01-18

Most stars form as members of large associations within dense, very cold (10 to 100 kelvin) molecular clouds. The nearby giant molecular cloud in Orion hosts several thousand stars of ages less than a few million years, many of which are located in or around the famous Orion Nebula, a prominent gas structure illuminated and ionized by a small group of massive stars (the Trapezium). We present x-ray observations obtained with the X-ray Multi-Mirror satellite XMM-Newton, revealing that a hot plasma with a temperature of 1.7 to 2.1 million kelvin pervades the southwest extension of the nebula. The plasma flows into the adjacent interstellar medium. This x-ray outflow phenomenon must be widespread throughout our Galaxy.

Influencing Attitudes Toward Near and Distant Objects

PubMed Central

Fujita, Kentaro; Eyal, Tal; Chaiken, Shelly; Trope, Yaacov; Liberman, Nira

2008-01-01

It is argued that the temporal distance of attitude objects systematically changes how the object is mentally represented, and thus influences the strength of particular persuasive appeals. Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people preferentially attend to arguments that highlight primary, abstract (high-level) vs. incidental, concrete (low-level) features when attitude objects are temporally distant vs. near. Results suggested that when attitude objects are temporally distant vs. near, arguments emphasizing primary vs. secondary features (Study 1), desirability vs. feasibility features (Study 2), and general classes vs. specific cases are more persuasive (Study 3). The relation of construal theory to dual process theories of persuasion and persuasion phenomena, such as personal relevance effects and functional matching effects, are discussed. PMID:19884971

ASCA observations of distant clusters of galaxies.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tsuru, T.; Koyama, K.; Hughes, J. P.; Arimoto, N.; Kii, T.; Hattori, M.

It is important not only in studies of clusters of galaxies but also in cosmological aspects to investigate the evolution of X-ray properties of clusters of galaxies. ASCA enables detailed spectral studies on distant clusters and the evolution of temperature for the first time. The authors present here "preliminary" results of ASCA observation of 17 distant (z = 0.14 - 0.55) clusters of galaxies. The sample includes: Cl0016+16 Abell 370, Abell 1995, Abell 959, ACGG 118, Zw 3136, EMSS 1305.4+2941, Abell 1851, Abell 963, Abell 2163, EMSS 0839.8+2938, Abell 665, Abell 1689, Abell 2218, Abell 586, Abell 1413, Abell 1895. The cosmological constants of H0 = 50 km/s/Mpc and q0 = 0.5 are adopted in this paper.

Distant World in Peril Discovered from La Silla

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-01-01

Giant Exoplanet Orbits Giant Star Summary When, in a distant future, the Sun begins to expand and evolves into a "giant" star, the surface temperature on the Earth will rise dramatically and our home planet will eventually be incinerated by that central body. Fortunately for us, this dramatic event is several billion years away. However, that sad fate will befall another planet, just discovered in orbit about the giant star HD 47536, already within a few tens of millions of years. At a distance of nearly 400 light-years from us, it is the second-remotest planetary system discovered to date [1]. This is an interesting side-result of a major research project, now carried out by a European-Brazilian team of astronomers [2]. In the course of a three-year spectroscopic survey, they have observed about 80 giant stars in the southern sky with the advanced FEROS spectrograph on the 1.52-m telescope installed at the ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile). It is one of these stars that has just been found to host a giant planet. This is only the fourth such case known and with a diameter of about 33 million km (or 23.5 times that of our Sun), HD 47536 is by far the largest of those giant stars [1]. The distance of the planet from the star is still of the order of 300 million km (or twice the distance of the Earth from the Sun), a safe margin now, but this will not always be so. The orbital period is 712 days, i.e., somewhat less than two Earth years, and the planet's mass is 5 - 10 times that of Jupiter. The presence of exoplanets in orbit around giant stars, some of which will eventually perish into their central star (be "cannibalized"), provides a possible explanation of the anomalous abundance of certain chemical elements that is observed in the atmospheres of some stars, cf. ESO PR 10/01. This interesting discovery bodes well for coming observations of exoplanetary systems with new, more powerful instruments, like HARPS to be installed next year at the ESO 3.6-m telescope on

Where is the 1-million-year-old ice at Dome A?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Liyun; Moore, John C.; Sun, Bo; Tang, Xueyuan; Guo, Xiaoran

2018-05-01

Ice fabric influences the rheology of ice, and hence the age-depth profile at ice core drilling sites. To investigate the age-depth profile to be expected of the ongoing deep ice coring at Kunlun station, Dome A, we use the depth-varying anisotropic fabric suggested by the recent polarimetric measurements around Dome A along with prescribed fabrics ranging from isotropic through girdle to single maximum in a three-dimensional, thermo-mechanically coupled full-Stokes model of a 70 × 70 km2 domain around Kunlun station. This model allows for the simulation of the near basal ice temperature and age, and ice flow around the location of the Chinese deep ice coring site. Ice fabrics and geothermal heat flux strongly affect the vertical advection and basal temperature which consequently control the age profile. Constraining modeled age-depth profiles with dated radar isochrones to 2/3 ice depth, the surface vertical velocity, and also the spatial variability of a radar isochrones dated to 153.3 ka BP, limits the age of the deep ice at Kunlun to between 649 and 831 ka, a much smaller range than previously inferred. The simple interpretation of the polarimetric radar fabric data that we use produces best fits with a geothermal heat flux of 55 mW m-2. A heat flux of 50 mW m-2 is too low to fit the deeper radar layers, and 60 mW m-2 leads to unrealistic surface velocities. The modeled basal temperature at Kunlun reaches the pressure melting point with a basal melting rate of 2.2-2.7 mm a-1. Using the spatial distribution of basal temperatures and the best fit fabric suggests that within 400 m of Kunlun station, 1-million-year-old ice may be found 200 m above the bed, and that there are large regions where even older ice is well above the bedrock within 5-6 km of the Kunlun station.

Distant and Distributed Learners Are Two Sides of the Same Coin.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barron, Brette Barclay

2002-01-01

An academic librarian at the University of South Carolina, faced with providing online resources for distant and distributed learners, examines whether there is any difference between distant and distributed learners. Illustrates changes brought on by implementation of information technologies. Discusses seeking a new definition, meeting…

Evidence for the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet divide for 1.4 million years

PubMed Central

Hein, Andrew S.; Woodward, John; Marrero, Shasta M.; Dunning, Stuart A.; Steig, Eric J.; Freeman, Stewart P. H. T.; Stuart, Finlay M.; Winter, Kate; Westoby, Matthew J.; Sugden, David E.

2016-01-01

Past fluctuations of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) are of fundamental interest because of the possibility of WAIS collapse in the future and a consequent rise in global sea level. However, the configuration and stability of the ice sheet during past interglacial periods remains uncertain. Here we present geomorphological evidence and multiple cosmogenic nuclide data from the southern Ellsworth Mountains to suggest that the divide of the WAIS has fluctuated only modestly in location and thickness for at least the last 1.4 million years. Fluctuations during glacial–interglacial cycles appear superimposed on a long-term trajectory of ice-surface lowering relative to the mountains. This implies that as a minimum, a regional ice sheet centred on the Ellsworth-Whitmore uplands may have survived Pleistocene warm periods. If so, it constrains the WAIS contribution to global sea level rise during interglacials to about 3.3 m above present. PMID:26838462

Adaptation measures to drought in Mongolian rangeland: The long-distant movement of people and livestock

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kakinuma, K.; Kanae, S.

2015-12-01

Coping with droughts are one of the most important issues in arid and semi-arid regions. Mongolia, where are located in central Asia, are concerned the increase of droughts in the future (IPCC 2014). Mongolia has long history of livestock grazing. Herders have developed the mobile grazing systems to use spatiotemporal variable vegetation. Especially, they often take a rapid and long-distant movement to avoid drought condition ("otor" in Mongolia). The movement is a main adaptation measure to droughts for herders, and it would be applicable to other regions where will be increase the frequency of droughts in the future. However there are few knowledge about processes and actual conditions of the long-distant movement of herders and livestock across Mongolia. Therefore our objective is to discuss the long-distance movement as adaptation measures to droughts. Mongolia has a climatic gradient along the latitude; rainfall variability in southern regions are higher than that in northern regions. Previous theoretical studies predicted that rainfall variability affect the grazing strategies. Based on them, we established two hypotheses about the relationship between climatic variability and the form of long distant movement. (1) The long-distance movement likely occur in southern regions because the frequency of drought are higher in southern regions than in northern regions (2) Cooperation among herders, such as acceptance of livestock that from other prefectures, are likely occur in southern regions while exclusive management are likely occur in northern regions. We interviewed to local herders, decision makers about the long-distant movement, and investigated the number of livestock that across the border of prefectures in recent year across Mongolia. We will discuss long-distant movements as an adaptation measure to drought thorough these results.

Big History or the 13800 million years from the Big Bang to the Human Brain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gústafsson, Ludvik E.

2017-04-01

Big History is the integrated history of the Cosmos, Earth, Life, and Humanity. It is an attempt to understand our existence as a continuous unfolding of processes leading to ever more complex structures. Three major steps in the development of the Universe can be distinguished, the first being the creation of matter/energy and forces in the context of an expanding universe, while the second and third steps were reached when completely new qualities of matter came into existence. 1. Matter comes out of nothing Quantum fluctuations and the inflation event are thought to be responsible for the creation of stable matter particles in what is called the Big Bang. Along with simple particles the universe is formed. Later larger particles like atoms and the most simple chemical elements hydrogen and helium evolved. Gravitational contraction of hydrogen and helium formed the first stars und later on the first galaxies. Massive stars ended their lives in violent explosions releasing heavier elements like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and iron into the universe. Subsequent star formation led to star systems with bodies containing these heavier elements. 2. Matter starts to live About 9200 million years after the Big Bang a rather inconspicous star of middle size formed in one of a billion galaxies. The leftovers of the star formation clumped into bodies rotating around the central star. In some of them elements like silicon, oxygen, iron and many other became the dominant matter. On the third of these bodies from the central star much of the surface was covered with an already very common chemical compound in the universe, water. Fluid water and plenty of various elements, especially carbon, were the ingredients of very complex chemical compounds that made up even more complex structures. These were able to replicate themselves. Life had appeared, the only occasion that we human beings know of. Life evolved subsequently leading eventually to the formation of multicellular

NREL's Economic Impact Tops $872 Million | News | NREL

Science.gov Websites

(NREL) was $872.3 million nationwide in fiscal year 2014, according to a study by the University of Colorado Boulder's Leeds School of Business. The study estimates NREL's impact to Colorado's economy laboratory is among the 10 largest employers in the county, according to the study, which was done by Richard

76 FR 53524 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Light Years: Conceptual...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-26

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice: 7567] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964- 1977'' SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of... included in the exhibition ``Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964-1977,'' imported from...

Light echoes whisper the distance to a star

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2008-02-01

Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope to measure the distribution and motions of thousands of galaxies in the distant Universe. This opens fascinating perspectives to better understand what drives the acceleration of the cosmic expansion and sheds new light on the mysterious dark energy that is thought to permeate the Universe. ESO PR Photo 04a/08 ESO PR Photo 04a/08 Large-scale structures (Computer Simulation) "Explaining why the expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating is certainly the most fascinating question in modern cosmology," says Luigi Guzzo, lead author of a paper in this week's issue of Nature, in which the new results are presented. "We have been able to show that large surveys that measure the positions and velocities of distant galaxies provide us with a new powerful way to solve this mystery." Ten years ago, astronomers made the stunning discovery that the Universe is expanding at a faster pace today than it did in the past. "This implies that one of two very different possibilities must hold true," explains Enzo Branchini, member of the team. "Either the Universe is filled with a mysterious dark energy which produces a repulsive force that fights the gravitational brake from all the matter present in the Universe, or, our current theory of gravitation is not correct and needs to be modified, for example by adding extra dimensions to space." Current observations of the expansion rate of the Universe cannot distinguish between these two options, but the international team of 51 scientists from 24 institutions found a way that could help in tackling this problem. The technique is based on a well-known phenomenon, namely the fact that the apparent motion of distant galaxies results from two effects: the global expansion of the Universe that pushes the galaxies away from each other and the gravitational attraction of matter present in the galaxies' neighbourhood that pulls them together, creating the cosmic web of large

Protoplanetary disc response to distant tidal encounters in stellar clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winter, A. J.; Clarke, C. J.; Rosotti, G.; Booth, R. A.

2018-04-01

The majority of stars form in a clustered environment. This has an impact on the evolution of surrounding protoplanetary discs (PPDs) due to either photoevaporation or tidal truncation. Consequently, the development of planets depends on formation environment. Here, we present the first thorough investigation of tidally induced angular momentum loss in PPDs in the distant regime, partly motivated by claims in the literature for the importance of distant encounters in disc evolution. We employ both theoretical predictions and dynamical/hydrodynamical simulations in 2D and 3D. Our theoretical analysis is based on that of Ostriker (1994) and leads us to conclude that in the limit that the closest approach distance xmin ≫ r, the radius of a particle ring, the fractional change in angular momentum scales as (xmin/r)-5. This asymptotic limit ensures that the cumulative effect of distant encounters is minor in terms of its influence on disc evolution. The angular momentum transfer is dominated by the m = 2 Lindblad resonance for closer encounters and by the m = 1, ω = 0 Lindblad resonance at large xmin/r. We contextualize these results by comparing expected angular momentum loss for the outer edge of a PPD due to distant and close encounters. Contrary to the suggestions of previous works, we do not find that distant encounters contribute significantly to angular momentum loss in PPDs. We define an upper limit for closest approach distance where interactions are significant as a function of arbitrary host to perturber mass ratio M2/M1.

A Hubble Diagram of Distant Type IA Supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamuy, M.; Phillips, M. M.; Suntzeff, N. B.; Aviles, R.; Maza, J.

1993-12-01

Due to their extreme luminosities at maximum light, type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have long been considered among the most attractive cosmological standard candles. Although nearly all work to date has been devoted to attempts to use these objects to determine the local rate of expansion of the universe (Ho), SNe Ia also provide one of the few direct techniques for measuring the deceleration parameter qo. However, in a recent study of nine well-observed events based largely on data obtained at CTIO, Phillips (1993, ApJ, 413, L105) found clear evidence for a significant intrinsic dispersion in SNe Ia absolute magnitudes amounting to ~ 0.8 mag in B, ~ 0.7 mag in V, and ~ 0.5 mag in I. Such a range in peak luminosity could introduce a subtantial Malmquist bias into searches for distant (z <= 0.3) SNe Ia which, if uncorrected, could lead to an erroneous value of qo. In this paper we present the Hubble diagram for 13 SNe Ia discovered and observed in the course of the Calan/Tololo Supernova Survey. This sample, which covers the redshift range 0.01 <= z <= 0.1, provides unequivocal evidence for an intrinsic spread in the peak luminosities of type Ia events. The data also confirm Phillips' conclusion that the maximum-light luminosity is strongly correlated with the initial decline rate of the B light curve. Interestingly, the most luminous SNe in our sample all occurred in spiral galaxies, which is true for Phillips' sample of nearby SNe Ia as well. This is opposite to what one would expect if dust extinction were important. These findings are consistent with recent speculations that the progenitors of SNe Ia are white dwarfs covering a range of masses, and also suggest that the brightest events may be found in galaxies which are still actively forming stars. The implications for the use of SNe Ia to measure qo are briefly discussed. This research has been supported by Grant 92/0312 from Fondo Nacional de Ciencias y Tecnología (FONDECYT-Chile).

Breast Carcinoma with Oncotype DX Recurrence Score Lower Than 18: Rate of Distant Metastases in a Large Series with Clinical Follow-Up

PubMed Central

Wen, Hannah Y; Krystel-Whittemore, Melissa; Patil, Sujata; Pareja, Fresia; Bowser, Zenica L; Dickler, Maura N.; Norton, Larry; Morrow, Monica; Hudis, Clifford A.; Brogi, Edi

2016-01-01

Backgrounds A 21-gene expression assay (Oncotype DX™ Recurrence Score (“RS”)) that utilizes RT-PCR is used clinically in early-stage estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast carcinoma (ER+/HER2− BC) to determine both prognosis with tamoxifen therapy and the utility of adding adjuvant chemotherapy. Use of the assay is associated with reductions in overall chemotherapy usage. This study examined the treatments and outcomes in patients with low recurrence scores. Methods We reviewed the institutional database to identify patients with node-negative, ER+/HER2− BC and the 21-gene recurrence score results treated at our center between September 2008 and August 2013. Results We identified 1406 consecutive patients with node-negative ER+/HER2− BC and low RS [RS 0–10: n=510; RS 11–17: n=896]. The median age at BC diagnosis was 56 years; 63 (4%) patients were younger than 40 years. Overall, 1361 (97%) of patients received endocrine therapy and 170 (12%) received chemotherapy. The median follow-up time was 46 months. Six patients (0.4%) developed distant metastases (one patient with RS = 5, and five with RS of 11–17). In the RS 11–17 cohort, the absolute rate of distant metastasis among patients <40 years old was 7.1% (3/42), versus 0.2% (2/854) among patients ≥40 years. Conclusions Our data document a 0.4% rate of distant metastasis within 5 years of BC diagnosis among patients with node-negative ER+/HER2− BC of RS<18. Patients younger than 40 years at BC diagnosis were observed to have a higher rate of distant metastases. Analysis of data from other studies is necessary to further validate this observation. PMID:27526056

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (5 million miles) Callisto is the outermost Galilean

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (5 million miles) Callisto is the outermost Galilean satellite of Jupiter and the darkest of the four, but still twice as bright as Earth's Moon. Mottled appearance from bright and dark patches; bright ones look like rayed or brite craters on our Moon. This face of Callisto is always turned toward Jupiter. Photo taken through violet filter.

[Child health. Revolution in health care can save millions].

PubMed

1983-02-09

The conclusions of the 1982-83 UNICEF report on the world's children are summarized. Improved diarrhea treatment, better vaccines, a halt to formula-feeding, and the fight against the invisible problem of malnutrition could save 20,000 children per day. If no measures are taken, a 30% increase in the number of undernourished and sick children could result by the turn of the century. Oral rehydration therapy (ORT) is vital to combatting diarrhea, which claims the lives of 5 million children per year. ORT can be done at home by letting the child drink a mixture of sugar and salt in water. The distribution of cheap ORT salt packages should be promoted. A new, heat-resistant measles vaccine, requiring only cold storage instead of freezing, could save 1.5 million children who die of measles annually. In 35 countries, a campaign against the use and sale of baby formulas could also save scores of children who die from undernourishment or infections from unclean bottles. Breast-feeding should be encouraged. In the fight against malnutrition, a child development chart indicating normal growth phases should be used to alert mothers to slow development. In 60% of the malnutrition cases in the Philippines, mothers were not aware of the condition. In an experiment in Indonesia, 15,000 village mothers regularly weigh their children on open-market scales and record the results. The organizational input for this is relatively small, but could result in decreasing malnutrition and child mortality by 1/2 by the end of the century. In addition, there are indications that a decline in child mortality correlates with a decrease in birth rate. Paradoxically, saving 6-7 million children could prevent the birth of 12-20 million children per year.

Space Science

NASA Image and Video Library

1978-12-01

The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31 since it is the 31st object on Messier's list of diffuse sky objects, is the nearest large galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is thought to look much like Andromeda, but it is about four times as massive as the Milky Way. Together these two galaxies dominate the Local Group of galaxies. The diffused light from Andromeda is caused by hundreds of billions of stars that compose it. The several distinct stars that surround Andromeda's image are actually stars in our galaxy that are well in front of the background object. Andromeda is so distant that it takes approximately two millions years for light to reach us from there.

Astronomers Discover Spectacular Structure in Distant Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1999-01-01

Researchers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope have imaged a "spectacular and complex structure" in a galaxy 50 million light-years away. Their work both resolves a decades-old observational mystery and revises current theories about the origin of X-ray emission coming from gas surrounding the galaxy. The new VLA image is of the galaxy M87, which harbors at its core a supermassive black hole spewing out jets of subatomic particles at nearly the speed of light and also is the central galaxy of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The VLA image is the first to show detail of a larger structure that originally was detected by radio astronomers more than a half-century ago. Analysis of the new image indicates that astronomers will have to revise their ideas about the physics of what causes X-ray emission in the cores of many galaxy clusters. Frazer Owen of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro, NM; Jean Eilek of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) in Socorro, NM; and Namir Kassim of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, announced their discovery at the American Astronomical Society's meeting today in Austin, TX. The new observations show two large, bubble-like lobes, more than 200,000 light-years across, that emit radio waves. These lobes, which are intricately detailed, apparently are powered by gravitational energy released from the black hole at the galaxy's center. "We think that material is flowing outward from the galaxy's core into these large, bright, radio-emitting 'bubbles,'" Owen said. The newly-discovered "bubbles" sit inside a region of the galaxy known to be emitting X-rays. Theorists have speculated that this X-ray emission arises when gas that originally was part of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, cools and falls inwards onto M87 itself, at the center of the cluster. Such "cooling flows" are commonly thought to be responsible for strong X-ray emission in many

Molecular Composition Analysis of Distant Targets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hughes, Gary B.; Lubin, Philip

2017-01-01

absorption profile at a distant spectrometer. Results obtained by executing simulations based on the model provide compelling evidence that the concept of remote laser evaporative molecular absorption spectroscopy is feasible. In this document, technical details of the model are presented, and results of simulations are described that indicate the utility of the proposed sensor system. Additionally, an asteroid rendezvous mission is analyzed, with a survey of system requirements to accomplish molecular composition analysis of the asteroid. Based on positive theoretical results obtained during Phase I, the estimated TRL of the system is now TRL-2. This document also describes potential future research and experimentation that could push the system to TRL-4 within 2 years. Steps required for construction of a laboratory prototype are described. An experiment to test predictions of the theory is described, based on the laboratory prototype setup.

Grounded Eyes on Distant Watery Skies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Susanna

2017-08-01

What can we learn about exoplanets from high-resolution, ground-based observations? A new view of the nearby upsilon Andromedae system has revealed a great deal about the systems closest-in exoplanet including the presence of water vapor in its atmosphere.Search for WobblesIllustration of how spectral lines shift when observing two objects that orbit each other. Click here to see a simulation of this process. [R. Pogge, OSU]The upsilon Andromedae system is located roughly 44 light-years from Earth. In 1997, a hot Jupiter exoplanet was discovered orbiting the primary star, and more planets were found not long after making this the first multiple-planet system discovered around a main-sequence star.These planets, however, were not discovered due to transits; their orbital planes are not aligned with our line of sight to the star. Instead, the hiddenplanets were first detected via the stars spectrum. The radial velocity method of detecting exoplanets searches for telltale periodic shifts of a stars spectral lines, which are induced by the orbiting planets gravitational tugs.In recent years, ground-based spectroscopy has become ever more powerful; thus revisiting old systems with higher resolution instruments can often open a whole new world of data to us. In the case of a recent study, a team of astronomers led by Danielle Piskorz (California Institute of Technology) revisited upsilon Andromedae with the high-resolution Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSPEC) at the Keck telescope in Hawaii. Their goal: to gather data about upsilon Andromedae b, the closest-in planet in the system.Top-down schematic of the orbit of upsilon Andromedae b around its star and the location in the orbit of the authors observations. [Piskorz et al. 2017]An Unusual ArchitecturePiskorz and collaborators obtained 13 different sets of observations of upsilon Andromedae with NIRSPEC across three different wavelength bands. By treating the starplanet system as though it were a spectroscopic binary

Ancient fossil specimens of extinct species are genetically more distant to an outgroup than extant sister species are

PubMed Central

Huang, Shi

2009-01-01

There exists a remarkable correlation between genetic distance as measured by protein or DNA dissimilarity and time of species divergence as inferred from fossil records. This observation has provoked the molecular clock hypothesis. However, data inconsistent with the hypothesis have steadily accumulated in recent years from studies of extant organisms. Here the published DNA and protein sequences from ancient fossil specimens were examined to see if they would support the molecular clock hypothesis. The hypothesis predicts that ancient specimens cannot be genetically more distant to an outgroup than extant sister species are. Also, two distinct ancient specimens cannot be genetically more distant than their extant sister species are. The findings here do not conform to these predictions. Neanderthals are more distant to chimpanzees and gorillas than modern humans are. Dinosaurs are more distant to frogs than extant birds are. Mastodons are more distant to opossums than other placental mammals are. The genetic distance between dinosaurs and mastodons is greater than that between extant birds and mammals. Therefore, while the molecular clock hypothesis is consistent with some data from extant organisms, it has yet to find support from ancient fossils. Far more damaging to the hypothesis than data from extant organisms, which merely question the constancy of mutation rate, the study of ancient fossil organisms here challenges for the first time the fundamental premise of modern evolution theory that genetic distances had always increased with time in the past history of life on Earth. PMID:18600632

Unbound or distant planetary mass population detected by gravitational microlensing.

PubMed

2011-05-19

Since 1995, more than 500 exoplanets have been detected using different techniques, of which 12 were detected with gravitational microlensing. Most of these are gravitationally bound to their host stars. There is some evidence of free-floating planetary-mass objects in young star-forming regions, but these objects are limited to massive objects of 3 to 15 Jupiter masses with large uncertainties in photometric mass estimates and their abundance. Here, we report the discovery of a population of unbound or distant Jupiter-mass objects, which are almost twice (1.8(+1.7)(-0.8)) as common as main-sequence stars, based on two years of gravitational microlensing survey observations towards the Galactic Bulge. These planetary-mass objects have no host stars that can be detected within about ten astronomical units by gravitational microlensing. However, a comparison with constraints from direct imaging suggests that most of these planetary-mass objects are not bound to any host star. An abrupt change in the mass function at about one Jupiter mass favours the idea that their formation process is different from that of stars and brown dwarfs. They may have formed in proto-planetary disks and subsequently scattered into unbound or very distant orbits.

Early failure of total hip replacements implanted at distant hospitals to reduce waiting lists.

PubMed Central

Ciampolini, Jac; Hubble, Matthew J. W.

2005-01-01

AIM: In the years 1990-1993, in an effort to reduce waiting-list time, a small number of patients were sent from Exeter to hospitals in London to undergo elective total hip replacement. No medium- or long-term follow-up was arranged. Our aim was to audit the outcome of these hip replacements. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Review of the records of the referring medical practices, Regional Health Authority, local orthopaedic hospital and the distant centres at which the surgery was performed identified 31 cases. A total of 27 hip replacements in 24 patients were available for clinical and radiological review. RESULTS: 12 (44%) hips have so far required revision surgery, at a mean of 6.5 years. Of these, three (11%) have been for deep infection. A further three hips (11%) are radiologically loose and are being closely monitored. Two patients (7%) suffered permanent sciatic nerve palsy. CONCLUSIONS: Patients whose surgery was performed locally over a similar time period have a published failure rate of only 4.9%. This difference is highly statistically significant (P < 0.001). The causes for such a difference in outcome were analysed and include surgical technique, implant selection and absence of follow-up. In the light of this evidence, we would like to urge the government to address waiting list problems by investing in the local infrastructure. Expanding those facilities where properly audited and fully accountable surgeons operate must be the way forward. PMID:15720905

Dirty air costs growers $500 million in crop losses

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tintori, K.A.

Air pollution damage to ornamental plants and crops, already costing the nation more than $500 million in losses yearly, is steadily increasing. California is one of the hardest hit areas with an annual loss of about $125 million. In metropolitan areas of Southern California, photochemical smog has made it impossible to raise orchids and growers have had to relocate in remote rural areas. Smog damage is now reported in 27 states, the District of Columbia, Canada and Mexico. The pollutants most easy to identify are five toxic gases: sulfur dioxide, ozone, peroxyacetyl nitrate, ethylene, and fluorides. The symptoms of eachmore » type of pollutant injury are described. 2 figures, 1 table.« less

Tumor microenvironment of metastasis and risk of distant metastasis of breast cancer.

PubMed

Rohan, Thomas E; Xue, Xiaonan; Lin, Hung-Mo; D'Alfonso, Timothy M; Ginter, Paula S; Oktay, Maja H; Robinson, Brian D; Ginsberg, Mindy; Gertler, Frank B; Glass, Andrew G; Sparano, Joseph A; Condeelis, John S; Jones, Joan G

2014-08-01

Tumor microenvironment of metastasis (TMEM), consisting of direct contact between a macrophage, an endothelial cell, and a tumor cell, has been associated with metastasis in both rodent mammary tumors and human breast cancer. We prospectively examined the association between TMEM score and risk of distant metastasis and compared risk associated with TMEM score with that associated with IHC4. We conducted a case-control study nested within a cohort of 3760 patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma diagnosed between 1980 and 2000 and followed through 2010. Case patients were women who developed a subsequent distant metastasis; control subjects were matched (1:1) on age at and calendar year of primary diagnosis. TMEM was assessed by triple immunostain and IHC4 by standard methods; slides were read by pathologists blinded to outcome. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using logistic regression, adjusted for clinical variables. A Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis was performed, and the area under the curve was estimated. All statistical tests were two-sided. TMEM score was associated with increased risk of distant metastasis in estrogen receptor (ER)(+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2)(-) tumors (multivariable OR high vs low tertile = 2.70; 95% CI = 1.39 to 5.26; P trend = .004), whereas IHC4 score had a borderline positive association (OR10 unit increase = 1.06; 95% CI = 1.00 to 1.13); the association for TMEM score persisted after adjustment for IHC4 score. The area under the curve for TMEM, adjusted for clinical variables, was 0.78. Neither TMEM score nor IHC4 score was independently associated with metastatic risk overall or in the triple negative or HER2(+) subgroups. TMEM score predicted risk of distant metastasis in ER(+)/HER2(-) breast cancer independently of IHC4 score and classical clinicopathologic features. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For

A SWIRE Picture is Worth Billions of Years

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Figure 1: SWIRE View of Distant Galaxies [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Figure 2Figure 3 Figure 4

These spectacular images, taken by the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic (SWIRE) Legacy project, encapsulate one of the primary objectives of the Spitzer mission: to connect the evolution of galaxies from the distant, or early, universe to the nearby, or present day, universe.

The Tadpole galaxy (main image) is the result of a recent galactic interaction in the local universe. Although these galactic mergers are rare in the universe's recent history, astronomers believe that they were much more common in the early universe. Thus, SWIRE team members will use this detailed image of the Tadpole galaxy to help understand the nature of the 'faint red-orange specks' of the early universe.

The larger picture (figure 2) depicts one-sixteenth of the SWIRE survey field called ELAIS-N1. In this image, the bright blue sources are hot stars in our own Milky Way, which range anywhere from 3 to 60 times the mass of our Sun. The fainter green spots are cooler stars and galaxies beyond the Milky Way whose light is dominated by older stellar populations. The red dots are dusty galaxies that are undergoing intense star formation. The faintest specks of red-orange are galaxies billions of light-years away in the distant universe.

Figure 3 features an unusual ring-like galaxy called CGCG 275-022. The red spiral arms indicate that this galaxy is very dusty and perhaps undergoing intense star formation. The star-forming activity could have been initiated by a near head-on collision with another galaxy.

The most distant galaxies that SWIRE is able to detect are revealed in a zoom of deep space (figure 4). The colors in this feature represent the same objects as those in the larger field image of ELAIS

TIMING AND INTERSTELLAR SCATTERING OF 35 DISTANT PULSARS DISCOVERED IN THE PALFA SURVEY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nice, D. J.; Altiere, E.; Farrington, D.

2013-07-20

We have made extensive observations of 35 distant slow (non-recycled) pulsars discovered in the ongoing Arecibo PALFA pulsar survey. Timing observations of these pulsars over several years at Arecibo Observatory and Jodrell Bank Observatory have yielded high-precision positions and measurements of rotation properties. Despite being a relatively distant population, these pulsars have properties that mirror those of the previously known pulsar population. Many of the sources exhibit timing noise, and one underwent a small glitch. We have used multifrequency data to measure the interstellar scattering properties of these pulsars. We find scattering to be higher than predicted along some linesmore » of sight, particularly in the Cygnus region. Finally, we present XMM-Newton and Chandra observations of the youngest and most energetic of the pulsars, J1856+0245, which has previously been associated with the GeV-TeV pulsar wind nebula HESS J1857+026.« less

Finding the optical axis of a distant object using an optical alignment system based on a holographic marker

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhuk, D. I.; Denisyuk, I. Yu.; Gutner, I. E.

2015-07-01

A way to construct a holographic indicator of the position of the central axis of a distant object based on recording a transmission hologram in a layer of photosensitive material and forming a remote real image before a light source is considered. A light source with a holographically formed marker designed for visual guidance to the object axis; it can be used to simplify aircraft landing on a glide path, preliminary visual alignment of large coaxial details of various machines, etc. Specific features of the scheme of recording a holographic marker and the reconstruction of its image are considered. The possibility of forming a remote holographic image marker, which can be aligned with a simultaneously operating reference laser system for determining the direction to an object and its optical axis, has been demonstrated experimentally.

The CfA-Rosat Survey of Distant Clusters of Galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNamara, Brian

1998-01-01

We (Vikhlinin, McNamara, Forman, Jones, Hornstrup, Quintana) have completed a new survey of distant clusters of galaxies, which we use to to study cluster evolution over cosmological timescales. The clusters were identified as extended X-ray sources in 650 ROSAT PSPC images of high Galactic latitude fields. Our catalog of approximately 230 extended X-ray sources covers 160 square degrees on the sky. Ours is the largest of the several ROSAT serendipitous cluster surveys in progress (e.g. SHARC, Rosati, WARPS etc.). Using V,R,I imagery obtained at several observatories, we find that greater than 90% of the X-ray sources are associated with distant clusters of galaxies. We have obtained spectroscopic redshifts for nearly 80 clusters in our catalog, and we have measured photometric redshifts for the remaining clusters. Our sample contains more than 20 clusters at z > 0.5. I will discuss the logN-logS relationship for our clusters. Because our large survey area, we are able to confirm the evolution of the most luminous distant clusters first seen in the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey. In addition, I will discuss the relationships between optical richness, core radius, and X-ray luminosity for distant, X-ray-selected clusters.

Diversity between and within: Approaches to Teaching about Distant Place in the Secondary School Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Liz

2014-01-01

This study outlines some challenges of teaching about distant place and demonstrates how different strategies can influence school students' framings of diversity. The analysis is based on an interpretive case study of 13-14?year-old students learning about Japan in a UK school. Their changing representations of Japan were tracked in detail over a…

Strategies for distant speech recognitionin reverberant environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delcroix, Marc; Yoshioka, Takuya; Ogawa, Atsunori; Kubo, Yotaro; Fujimoto, Masakiyo; Ito, Nobutaka; Kinoshita, Keisuke; Espi, Miquel; Araki, Shoko; Hori, Takaaki; Nakatani, Tomohiro

2015-12-01

Reverberation and noise are known to severely affect the automatic speech recognition (ASR) performance of speech recorded by distant microphones. Therefore, we must deal with reverberation if we are to realize high-performance hands-free speech recognition. In this paper, we review a recognition system that we developed at our laboratory to deal with reverberant speech. The system consists of a speech enhancement (SE) front-end that employs long-term linear prediction-based dereverberation followed by noise reduction. We combine our SE front-end with an ASR back-end that uses neural networks for acoustic and language modeling. The proposed system achieved top scores on the ASR task of the REVERB challenge. This paper describes the different technologies used in our system and presents detailed experimental results that justify our implementation choices and may provide hints for designing distant ASR systems.

Ultraviolet Enceladus

NASA Image and Video Library

2004-09-23

Looking beyond Saturn's south pole, this was the Cassini spacecraft's view of the distant, icy moon Enceladus on July 28, 2004. The planet itself shows few obvious features at these ultraviolet wavelengths, due to scattering of light by molecules of the gases high in the atmosphere. Enceladus is 499 kilometers (310 miles) wide. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera at a distance of 7.4 million kilometers (4.6 million miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to ultraviolet wavelengths of light. The image scale is 44 kilometers (27 miles) per pixel of Saturn. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06483

Sea-level and deep-sea-temperature variability over the past 5.3 million years.

PubMed

Rohling, E J; Foster, G L; Grant, K M; Marino, G; Roberts, A P; Tamisiea, M E; Williams, F

2014-04-24

Ice volume (and hence sea level) and deep-sea temperature are key measures of global climate change. Sea level has been documented using several independent methods over the past 0.5 million years (Myr). Older periods, however, lack such independent validation; all existing records are related to deep-sea oxygen isotope (δ(18)O) data that are influenced by processes unrelated to sea level. For deep-sea temperature, only one continuous high-resolution (Mg/Ca-based) record exists, with related sea-level estimates, spanning the past 1.5 Myr. Here we present a novel sea-level reconstruction, with associated estimates of deep-sea temperature, which independently validates the previous 0-1.5 Myr reconstruction and extends it back to 5.3 Myr ago. We find that deep-sea temperature and sea level generally decreased through time, but distinctly out of synchrony, which is remarkable given the importance of ice-albedo feedbacks on the radiative forcing of climate. In particular, we observe a large temporal offset during the onset of Plio-Pleistocene ice ages, between a marked cooling step at 2.73 Myr ago and the first major glaciation at 2.15 Myr ago. Last, we tentatively infer that ice sheets may have grown largest during glacials with more modest reductions in deep-sea temperature.

Distant Site Effects of Ingested Prebiotics

PubMed Central

Collins, Stephanie; Reid, Gregor

2016-01-01

The gut microbiome is being more widely recognized for its association with positive health outcomes, including those distant to the gastrointestinal system. This has given the ability to maintain and restore microbial homeostasis a new significance. Prebiotic compounds are appealing for this purpose as they are generally food-grade substances only degraded by microbes, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, from which beneficial short-chain fatty acids are produced. Saccharides such as inulin and other fructo-oligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, and polydextrose have been widely used to improve gastrointestinal outcomes, but they appear to also influence distant sites. This review examined the effects of prebiotics on bone strength, neural and cognitive processes, immune functioning, skin, and serum lipid profile. The mode of action is in part affected by intestinal permeability and by fermentation products reaching target cells. As the types of prebiotics available diversify, so too will our understanding of the range of microbes able to degrade them, and the extent to which body sites can be impacted by their consumption. PMID:27571098

Distant Site Effects of Ingested Prebiotics.

PubMed

Collins, Stephanie; Reid, Gregor

2016-08-26

The gut microbiome is being more widely recognized for its association with positive health outcomes, including those distant to the gastrointestinal system. This has given the ability to maintain and restore microbial homeostasis a new significance. Prebiotic compounds are appealing for this purpose as they are generally food-grade substances only degraded by microbes, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, from which beneficial short-chain fatty acids are produced. Saccharides such as inulin and other fructo-oligosaccharides, galactooligosaccharides, and polydextrose have been widely used to improve gastrointestinal outcomes, but they appear to also influence distant sites. This review examined the effects of prebiotics on bone strength, neural and cognitive processes, immune functioning, skin, and serum lipid profile. The mode of action is in part affected by intestinal permeability and by fermentation products reaching target cells. As the types of prebiotics available diversify, so too will our understanding of the range of microbes able to degrade them, and the extent to which body sites can be impacted by their consumption.

Forecasting Weather on Distant Worlds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

An artist's conception shows a gas-giant planet orbiting very close to its parent star, creating searingly hot conditions on the planet's surface. New research suggests that for three such planets lying from 50 to 150 light-years from Earth, strong winds thousands of miles per hour mix the atmosphere so that the temperature is relatively uniform from the permanently light side to the permanently dark side.

This illustration represents an infrared view of a planetary system, in which brightness indicates warmer temperatures. For example, the bright band around the equator of the planet denotes warmer temperatures on both the dark and sunlit sides. The planet's poles, shown in darker colors, would be cooler.

Invited Article: Generation of one-million-mode continuous-variable cluster state by unlimited time-domain multiplexing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshikawa, Jun-ichi; Yokoyama, Shota; Kaji, Toshiyuki; Sornphiphatphong, Chanond; Shiozawa, Yu; Makino, Kenzo; Furusawa, Akira

2016-09-01

In recent quantum optical continuous-variable experiments, the number of fully inseparable light modes has drastically increased by introducing a multiplexing scheme either in the time domain or in the frequency domain. Here, modifying the time-domain multiplexing experiment reported in the work of Yokoyama et al. [Nat. Photonics 7, 982 (2013)], we demonstrate the successive generation of fully inseparable light modes for more than one million modes. The resulting multi-mode state is useful as a dual-rail continuous variable cluster state. We circumvent the previous problem of optical phase drifts, which has limited the number of fully inseparable light modes to around ten thousands, by continuous feedback control of the optical system.

Implementing the US air quality standard for PM2.5 worldwide can prevent millions of premature deaths per year.

PubMed

Giannadaki, Despina; Lelieveld, Jos; Pozzer, Andrea

2016-08-23

Air pollution by fine aerosol particles is among the leading causes of poor health and premature mortality worldwide. The growing awareness of this issue has led several countries to implement air pollution legislation. However, populations in large parts of the world are still exposed to high levels of ambient particulate pollution. The main aim of this work is to evaluate the potential impact of implementing current air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the European Union (EU), United States (US) and other countries where PM2.5 levels are high. We use a high-resolution global atmospheric chemistry model combined with epidemiological concentration response functions to investigate premature mortality attributable to PM2.5 in adults ≥30 years and children <5 years. We perform sensitivity studies to estimate the reductions in mortality that could be achieved if the PM2.5 air quality standards of the EU and US and other national standards would be implemented worldwide. We estimate the global premature mortality by PM2.5 at 3.15 million/year in 2010. China is the leading country with about 1.33 million, followed by India with 575 thousand and Pakistan with 105 thousand per year. For the 28 EU member states we estimate 173 thousand and for the United States 52 thousand premature deaths in 2010. Based on sensitivity analysis, applying worldwide the EU annual mean standard of 25 μg/m(3) for PM2.5 could reduce global premature mortality due to PM2.5 exposure by 17 %; while within the EU the effect is negligible. With the 2012 revised US standard of 12 μg/m(3) premature mortality by PM2.5 could drop by 46 % worldwide; 4 % in the US and 20 % in the EU, 69 % in China, 49 % in India and 36 % in Pakistan. These estimates take into consideration that about 22 % of the global PM2.5 related mortality cannot be avoided due to the contribution of natural PM2.5 sources, mainly airborne desert dust and PM2.5 from wild fires. Our results reflect

Million Trees Los Angeles: Carbon dioxide sink or source?

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson; A. Kendall; S. Albers

2015-01-01

This study seeks to answer the question, 'Will the Million Trees LA (MTLA) programme be a CO2 sink or source?' Using surveys, interviews, field sampling and computer simulation of tree growth and survival over a 40-year period, we developed the first process-based life cycle inventory of CO2 for a large tree...

Lymphovascular Invasion Increases the Risk of Nodal and Distant Recurrence in Node-Negative Stage I-IIA Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.

PubMed

Sung, Soo Yoon; Kwak, Yoo-Kang; Lee, Sea-Won; Jo, In Young; Park, Jae Kil; Kim, Kyung Soo; Lee, Kyo Young; Kim, Yeon-Sil

2018-05-30

Despite complete surgical resection, 30-40% of patients with stage I-IIA non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have recurrences. We aimed to elucidate the effect of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) on the prognosis and patterns of recurrence in patients with pathologically confirmed T1-2N0 NSCLC. We evaluated 381 patients who underwent complete resection and were diagnosed with pathologic T1-2N0 NSCLC between March 2000 and January 2012. Local recurrence, nodal recurrence, and distant metastasis were defined and analyzed. LVI was present in 72 patients (18.9%). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) for all patients was 69.9%. Patients with LVI showed a significant decrease in 5-year DFS (47.3 vs. 74.4%, p < 0.001). LVI was a significant prognostic predictor in multivariate analysis (p = 0.003). The patients with LVI showed a significantly increased 5-year cumulative incidence of nodal recurrence (22.5 vs. 8.7%, p < 0.001) and distant metastasis (30.4 vs. 14.9%, p = 0.004). However, no difference was shown between the two groups in the 5-year cumulative incidence of local recurrence (p = 0.416). LVI is a negative prognostic factor in patients with stage I-IIA NSCLC. The presence of LVI significantly increases the risk of nodal and distant recurrence. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Dissecting a Light Echo

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2008-01-01

[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Click on image for audio animation

This animation illustrates how a light echo works, and how an optical illusion of material moving outward is created.

A light echo occurs when a star explodes, acting like a cosmic flashbulb. The light from this explosion zips through nearby dust clumps, illuminating and heating them up slightly. This brief period of warming causes them to glow in infrared, like a chain of Christmas bulbs lighting up one by one.

The animation starts by showing the explosion of a star, which results in a flash of light that moves outward in all directions. The direction of our line of sight from Earth is indicated by the blue arrow.

When the light flash reaches surrounding dust, shown here as three dark clouds, the dust is heated up, creating infrared light that begins to travel toward Earth (indicated by the red arrows). Dust closest to the explosion lights up first, while the explosion's shock wave takes longer to reach more distant material. This results in light from different parts of the cloud reaching Earth at different times, creating the illusion of motion over time.

As the animation shows, the inclination of the cloud toward our line of sight can result in the material seeming to move both away from and toward the central star.

Advantages of a distant cellulase catalytic base.

PubMed

Burgin, Tucker; Ståhlberg, Jerry; Mayes, Heather B

2018-03-30

The inverting glycoside hydrolase Trichoderma reesei ( Hypocrea jecorina ) Cel6A is a promising candidate for protein engineering for more economical production of biofuels. Until recently, its catalytic mechanism had been uncertain: The best candidate residue to serve as a catalytic base, Asp-175, is farther from the glycosidic cleavage site than in other glycoside hydrolase enzymes. Recent unbiased transition path sampling simulations revealed the hydrolytic mechanism for this more distant base, employing a water wire; however, it is not clear why the enzyme employs a more distant catalytic base, a highly conserved feature among homologs across different kingdoms. In this work, we describe molecular dynamics simulations designed to uncover how a base with a longer side chain, as in a D175E mutant, affects procession and active site alignment in the Michaelis complex. We show that the hydrogen bond network is tuned to the shorter aspartate side chain, and that a longer glutamate side chain inhibits procession as well as being less likely to adopt a catalytically productive conformation. Furthermore, we draw comparisons between the active site in Trichoderma reesei Cel6A and another inverting, processive cellulase to deduce the contribution of the water wire to the overall enzyme function, revealing that the more distant catalytic base enhances product release. Our results can inform efforts in the study and design of enzymes by demonstrating how counterintuitive sacrifices in chemical reactivity can have worthwhile benefits for other steps in the catalytic cycle. © 2018 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Distant Education in 2001: Accreditation & Quality. The Accrediting Commission Looks at the Evolving Forms of Correspondence Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Home Study Council, Washington, DC. Accrediting Commission.

This collection of 10 essays is the outgrowth of a 1983 Accrediting Commission meeting which examined the implications for accreditation of the "Green Chair Group" report entitled "Predicting Distant Education in the Year 2001," an earlier document containing the predictions of 25 educators and executives concerning…

Establishing and storing of deterministic quantum entanglement among three distant atomic ensembles.

PubMed

Yan, Zhihui; Wu, Liang; Jia, Xiaojun; Liu, Yanhong; Deng, Ruijie; Li, Shujing; Wang, Hai; Xie, Changde; Peng, Kunchi

2017-09-28

It is crucial for the physical realization of quantum information networks to first establish entanglement among multiple space-separated quantum memories and then, at a user-controlled moment, to transfer the stored entanglement to quantum channels for distribution and conveyance of information. Here we present an experimental demonstration on generation, storage, and transfer of deterministic quantum entanglement among three spatially separated atomic ensembles. The off-line prepared multipartite entanglement of optical modes is mapped into three distant atomic ensembles to establish entanglement of atomic spin waves via electromagnetically induced transparency light-matter interaction. Then the stored atomic entanglement is transferred into a tripartite quadrature entangled state of light, which is space-separated and can be dynamically allocated to three quantum channels for conveying quantum information. The existence of entanglement among three released optical modes verifies that the system has the capacity to preserve multipartite entanglement. The presented protocol can be directly extended to larger quantum networks with more nodes.Continuous-variable encoding is a promising approach for quantum information and communication networks. Here, the authors show how to map entanglement from three spatial optical modes to three separated atomic samples via electromagnetically induced transparency, releasing it later on demand.

A perspective on 10-years HTS experience at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research - eighteen million assays and counting.

PubMed

Lackovic, Kurt; Lessene, Guillaume; Falk, Hendrik; Leuchowius, Karl-Johan; Baell, Jonathan; Street, Ian

2014-03-01

The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) is Australia's longest serving medical research institute. WEHI's High Throughput Screening (HTS) Facility was established in 2003 with $5 million of infrastructure funds invested by WEHI, and the Victorian State Government's Strategic Technology Initiative through Bio21 Australia Ltd. The Facility was Australia's first truly academic HTS facility and was one of only a handful operating in publicly funded institutions worldwide at that time. The objectives were to provide access to enabling HTS technologies, such as assay design, liquid handling automation, compound libraries and expertise to promote translation of basic research in a national setting that has a relatively young biotech sector and does not have a big Pharma research presence. Ten years on and the WEHI HTS Facility has participated in over 92 collaborative projects, generated over 18 million data points, and most importantly, projects that began in the Facility have been commercialized successfully (due to strong ties with Business Development and emphasis on intellectual property management) and now have molecules progressing in clinical trials.

Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers.

PubMed

Cui, Zhenling; Zhang, Hongyan; Chen, Xinping; Zhang, Chaochun; Ma, Wenqi; Huang, Chengdong; Zhang, Weifeng; Mi, Guohua; Miao, Yuxin; Li, Xiaolin; Gao, Qiang; Yang, Jianchang; Wang, Zhaohui; Ye, Youliang; Guo, Shiwei; Lu, Jianwei; Huang, Jianliang; Lv, Shihua; Sun, Yixiang; Liu, Yuanying; Peng, Xianlong; Ren, Jun; Li, Shiqing; Deng, Xiping; Shi, Xiaojun; Zhang, Qiang; Yang, Zhiping; Tang, Li; Wei, Changzhou; Jia, Liangliang; Zhang, Jiwang; He, Mingrong; Tong, Yanan; Tang, Qiyuan; Zhong, Xuhua; Liu, Zhaohui; Cao, Ning; Kou, Changlin; Ying, Hao; Yin, Yulong; Jiao, Xiaoqiang; Zhang, Qingsong; Fan, Mingsheng; Jiang, Rongfeng; Zhang, Fusuo; Dou, Zhengxia

2018-03-15

Sustainably feeding a growing population is a grand challenge, and one that is particularly difficult in regions that are dominated by smallholder farming. Despite local successes, mobilizing vast smallholder communities with science- and evidence-based management practices to simultaneously address production and pollution problems has been infeasible. Here we report the outcome of concerted efforts in engaging millions of Chinese smallholder farmers to adopt enhanced management practices for greater yield and environmental performance. First, we conducted field trials across China's major agroecological zones to develop locally applicable recommendations using a comprehensive decision-support program. Engaging farmers to adopt those recommendations involved the collaboration of a core network of 1,152 researchers with numerous extension agents and agribusiness personnel. From 2005 to 2015, about 20.9 million farmers in 452 counties adopted enhanced management practices in fields with a total of 37.7 million cumulative hectares over the years. Average yields (maize, rice and wheat) increased by 10.8-11.5%, generating a net grain output of 33 million tonnes (Mt). At the same time, application of nitrogen decreased by 14.7-18.1%, saving 1.2 Mt of nitrogen fertilizers. The increased grain output and decreased nitrogen fertilizer use were equivalent to US$12.2 billion. Estimated reactive nitrogen losses averaged 4.5-4.7 kg nitrogen per Megagram (Mg) with the intervention compared to 6.0-6.4 kg nitrogen per Mg without. Greenhouse gas emissions were 328 kg, 812 kg and 434 kg CO 2 equivalent per Mg of maize, rice and wheat produced, respectively, compared to 422 kg, 941 kg and 549 kg CO 2 equivalent per Mg without the intervention. On the basis of a large-scale survey (8.6 million farmer participants) and scenario analyses, we further demonstrate the potential impacts of implementing the enhanced management practices on China's food security and

Pursuing sustainable productivity with millions of smallholder farmers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cui, Zhenling; Zhang, Hongyan; Chen, Xinping; Zhang, Chaochun; Ma, Wenqi; Huang, Chengdong; Zhang, Weifeng; Mi, Guohua; Miao, Yuxin; Li, Xiaolin; Gao, Qiang; Yang, Jianchang; Wang, Zhaohui; Ye, Youliang; Guo, Shiwei; Lu, Jianwei; Huang, Jianliang; Lv, Shihua; Sun, Yixiang; Liu, Yuanying; Peng, Xianlong; Ren, Jun; Li, Shiqing; Deng, Xiping; Shi, Xiaojun; Zhang, Qiang; Yang, Zhiping; Tang, Li; Wei, Changzhou; Jia, Liangliang; Zhang, Jiwang; He, Mingrong; Tong, Yanan; Tang, Qiyuan; Zhong, Xuhua; Liu, Zhaohui; Cao, Ning; Kou, Changlin; Ying, Hao; Yin, Yulong; Jiao, Xiaoqiang; Zhang, Qingsong; Fan, Mingsheng; Jiang, Rongfeng; Zhang, Fusuo; Dou, Zhengxia

2018-03-01

Sustainably feeding a growing population is a grand challenge, and one that is particularly difficult in regions that are dominated by smallholder farming. Despite local successes, mobilizing vast smallholder communities with science- and evidence-based management practices to simultaneously address production and pollution problems has been infeasible. Here we report the outcome of concerted efforts in engaging millions of Chinese smallholder farmers to adopt enhanced management practices for greater yield and environmental performance. First, we conducted field trials across China’s major agroecological zones to develop locally applicable recommendations using a comprehensive decision-support program. Engaging farmers to adopt those recommendations involved the collaboration of a core network of 1,152 researchers with numerous extension agents and agribusiness personnel. From 2005 to 2015, about 20.9 million farmers in 452 counties adopted enhanced management practices in fields with a total of 37.7 million cumulative hectares over the years. Average yields (maize, rice and wheat) increased by 10.8–11.5%, generating a net grain output of 33 million tonnes (Mt). At the same time, application of nitrogen decreased by 14.7–18.1%, saving 1.2 Mt of nitrogen fertilizers. The increased grain output and decreased nitrogen fertilizer use were equivalent to US$12.2 billion. Estimated reactive nitrogen losses averaged 4.5–4.7 kg nitrogen per Megagram (Mg) with the intervention compared to 6.0–6.4 kg nitrogen per Mg without. Greenhouse gas emissions were 328 kg, 812 kg and 434 kg CO2 equivalent per Mg of maize, rice and wheat produced, respectively, compared to 422 kg, 941 kg and 549 kg CO2 equivalent per Mg without the intervention. On the basis of a large-scale survey (8.6 million farmer participants) and scenario analyses, we further demonstrate the potential impacts of implementing the enhanced management practices on China’s food security and

40 CFR 86.709-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.709-94 In-use emission standards for 1994 and... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light light-duty trucks shall meet all standards in... standards in tables H94-9 and H94-10. (ii) For model years 1996 and 1997, a minimum of the percentages shown...

40 CFR 86.709-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.709-94 In-use emission standards for 1994 and... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light light-duty trucks shall meet all standards in... standards in tables H94-9 and H94-10. (ii) For model years 1996 and 1997, a minimum of the percentages shown...

40 CFR 86.709-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.709-94 In-use emission standards for 1994 and... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light light-duty trucks shall meet all standards in... standards in tables H94-9 and H94-10. (ii) For model years 1996 and 1997, a minimum of the percentages shown...

40 CFR 86.709-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.709-94 In-use emission standards for 1994 and... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light light-duty trucks shall meet all standards in... standards in tables H94-9 and H94-10. (ii) For model years 1996 and 1997, a minimum of the percentages shown...

A galaxy rapidly forming stars 700 million years after the Big Bang at redshift 7.51.

PubMed

Finkelstein, S L; Papovich, C; Dickinson, M; Song, M; Tilvi, V; Koekemoer, A M; Finkelstein, K D; Mobasher, B; Ferguson, H C; Giavalisco, M; Reddy, N; Ashby, M L N; Dekel, A; Fazio, G G; Fontana, A; Grogin, N A; Huang, J-S; Kocevski, D; Rafelski, M; Weiner, B J; Willner, S P

2013-10-24

Of several dozen galaxies observed spectroscopically that are candidates for having a redshift (z) in excess of seven, only five have had their redshifts confirmed via Lyman α emission, at z = 7.008, 7.045, 7.109, 7.213 and 7.215 (refs 1-4). The small fraction of confirmed galaxies may indicate that the neutral fraction in the intergalactic medium rises quickly at z > 6.5, given that Lyman α is resonantly scattered by neutral gas. The small samples and limited depth of previous observations, however, makes these conclusions tentative. Here we report a deep near-infrared spectroscopic survey of 43 photometrically-selected galaxies with z > 6.5. We detect a near-infrared emission line from only a single galaxy, confirming that some process is making Lyman α difficult to detect. The detected emission line at a wavelength of 1.0343 micrometres is likely to be Lyman α emission, placing this galaxy at a redshift z = 7.51, an epoch 700 million years after the Big Bang. This galaxy's colours are consistent with significant metal content, implying that galaxies become enriched rapidly. We calculate a surprisingly high star-formation rate of about 330 solar masses per year, which is more than a factor of 100 greater than that seen in the Milky Way. Such a galaxy is unexpected in a survey of our size, suggesting that the early Universe may harbour a larger number of intense sites of star formation than expected.

A DISTANT ECHO OF MILKY WAY CENTRAL ACTIVITY CLOSES THE GALAXY’s BARYON CENSUS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nicastro, F.; Senatore, F.; Krongold, Y.

2016-09-01

We report on the presence of large amounts of million-degree gas in the Milky Way’s interstellar and circum-galactic medium. This gas (1) permeates both the Galactic plane and the halo, (2) extends to distances larger than 60–200 kpc from the center, and (3) its mass is sufficient to close the Galaxy’s baryon census. Moreover, we show that a vast, ∼6 kpc radius, spherically symmetric central region of the Milky Way above and below the 0.16 kpc thick plane has either been emptied of hot gas or the density of this gas within the cavity has a peculiar profile, increasing frommore » the center up to a radius of ∼6 kpc, and then decreasing with a typical halo density profile. This, and several other converging pieces of evidence, suggest that the current surface of the cavity, at 6 kpc from the Galaxy’s center, traces the distant echo of a period of strong nuclear activity of our supermassive black hole, occurring about 6 Myr ago.« less

Pressure wave injuries to the nervous system caused by high-energy missile extremity impact: Part II. Distant effects on the central nervous system--a light and electron microscopic study on pigs.

PubMed

Suneson, A; Hansson, H A; Seeman, T

1990-03-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate if distant effects could be detected within the central nervous system after impact of a high-energy missile in the left thigh of young pigs. Pressure transducers implanted in various parts of the body of the animal, including the brain, recorded a short-lasting burst of oscillating pressure waves with high frequencies and large amplitudes, traversing the body tissue with a velocity of about that of sound in water (1,460 m/s). The distance between the point of impact and the brain and cervical spinal cord is in the range of 0.5 m. Macroscopic examination revealed that there was no gross brain tissue disruption or visible blood-brain barrier dysfunction. Light microscopic examination demonstrated myelin invaginations in the largest axons and shrinkage of axoplasm. Electron microscopic examination revealed a reduction in the number of microtubules, especially in the larger axons in the brainstem. Disintegration of Nissl substance, i.e., chromatolysis, was noticed after 48 hr in many Purkinje nerve cells in the cerebellum, concomitantly with the appearance of an increased frequency of association between lamellar bodies and mitochondria. Changes could also be observed in the cervical spinal cord and, at reduced frequency and extent, in the optic nerve and in other parts of the brain. These effects were evident within a few minutes after the trauma and persisted even 48 hr after the extremity injury. It is concluded that distant effects, likely to be caused by the oscillating high-frequency pressure waves, appear in the central nervous system after a high-energy missile extremity impact.

A search for X-ray bright distant clusters of galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nichol, R. C.; Ulmer, M. P.; Kron, R. G.; Wirth, G. D.; Koo, D. C.

1994-01-01

We present the results of a search for X-ray luminous distant clusters of galaxies. We found extended X-ray emission characteristic of a cluster toward two of our candidate clusters of galaxies. They both have a luminosity in the ROSAT bandpass of approximately equals 10(exp 44) ergs/s and a redshift greater than 0.5; thus making them two of the most distant X-ray clusters ever observed. Furthermore, we show that both clusters are optically rich and have a known radio source associated with them. We compare our result with other recent searches for distant X-ray luminous clusters and present a lower limit of 1.2 x 10(exp -7)/cu Mpc for the number density of such high-redshift clusters. This limit is consistent with the expected abundance of such clusters in a standard (b = 2) cold dark matter universe. Finally, our clusters provide important high-redshift targets for further study into the origin and evolution of massive clusters of galaxies.

Mach's Principle to Hubble's Law and Light Relativity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Tianxi

2018-01-01

Discovery of the redshift-distance relation to be linear (i.e. Hubble's law) for galaxies in the end of 1920s instigated us to widely accept expansion of the universe, originated from a big bang around 14 billion years ago. Finding of the redshift-distance relation to be weaker than linear for distant type Ia supernovae nearly two decades ago further precipitated us to largely agree with recent acceleration of the universe, driven by the mysterious dark energy. The time dilation measured for supernovae has been claimed as a direct evidence for the expansion of the universe, but scientists could not explain why quasars and gamma-ray bursts had not similar time dilations. Recently, an anomaly was found in the standard template for the width of supernova light curves to be proportional to the wavelength, which exactly removed the time dilation of supernovae and hence was strongly inconsistent with the conventional redshift mechanism. In this study, we have derived a new redshift-distance relation from Mach's principle with light relativity that describes the effect of light on spacetime as well as the influence of disturbed spacetime on the light inertia or frequency. A moving object or photon, because of its continuously keeping on displacement, disturbs the rest of the entire universe or distorts/curves the spacetime. The distorted or curved spacetime then generates an effective gravitational force to act back on the moving object or photon, so that reduces the object inertia or photon frequency. Considering the disturbance of spacetime by a photon is extremely weak, we have modelled the effective gravitational force to be Newtonian and derived the new redshift-distance relation that can not only perfectly explain the redshift-distance measurement of distant type Ia supernovae but also inherently obtain Hubble's law as an approximate at small redshift. Therefore, the result obtained from this study does neither support the acceleration of the universe nor the

Changing climate in a pre-impact world: a multi-proxy paleotemperature reconstruction across the last million years of the Cretaceous

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woelders, L.; Vellekoop, J.; Reichart, G. J.; de Nooijer, L. J.; Sluijs, A.; Peterse, F.; Claeys, P. F.; Speijer, R. P.

2015-12-01

Climate instability during the last million years of the Cretaceous (67-66 Ma) is still poorly documented and not well understood. One of the reasons for this is that in deep time, different proxies are likely to yield different temperatures. This is because the application of calibrations based on present day temperature proxy relationships is affected by source organism evolution, differences in ocean chemistry and non-analogue processes. Only by combining temperature estimates derived from different, independent proxies, the problems with individual proxies can be cancelled out. A quantitative, multi-proxy temperature record from the latest Cretaceous therefore may provide a better insight in climate changes across this time interval. For such a multi-proxy research, sediments are required that yield both well-preserved foraminiferal calcite as well as organic biomarkers. Very few sites are known to provide such sedimentary records, but ODP Leg 174AX Site Bass River (New Jersey Shelf) has proven to be an excellent archive for paleotemperature reconstructions for the Cretaceous and Paleogene. We here present a multi-proxy, quantitative paleotemperature reconstruction of the last million years of the Cretaceous of the Bass River core. Benthic and planktic foraminiferal Mg/Ca and δ18O were determined, as well as the organic geochemical sea surface temperature proxy TEX86. This resulted in a unique coupled surface and bottom water temperature record of the latest Cretaceous. Our data suggest a ~2-6 ˚C bottom water warming and a ~4-6 ˚C surface water warming approximately 300 kyr before the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, followed by a cooling trend across the boundary. This warming event appears to coincide with the main phase of the Deccan Traps eruptions and therefore probably represents a global event.

The effects of living distantly from peritoneal dialysis units on peritonitis risk, microbiology, treatment and outcomes: a multi-centre registry study

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The aim of the study was to determine whether distance between residence and peritoneal dialysis (PD) unit influenced peritonitis occurrence, microbiology, treatment and outcomes. Methods The study included all patients receiving PD between 1/10/2003 and 31/12/2008, using ANZDATA Registry data. Results 365 (6%) patients lived ≥100 km from their nearest PD unit (distant group), while 6183 (94%) lived <100 km (local group). Median time to first peritonitis in distant patients (1.34 years, 95% CI 1.07-1.61) was significantly shorter than in local patients (1.68 years, 95% CI 1.59-1.77, p = 0.001), whilst overall peritonitis rates were higher in distant patients (incidence rate ratio 1.32, 95% CI 1.20-1.46). Living ≥100 km away from a PD unit was independently associated with a higher risk of S. aureus peritonitis (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.64, 95% CI 1.09-2.47). Distant patients with first peritonitis episodes were less likely to be hospitalised (64% vs 73%, p = 0.008) and receive antifungal prophylaxis (4% vs 10%, p = 0.01), but more likely to receive vancomycin-based antibiotic regimens (52% vs 42%, p < 0.001). Using multivariable logistic regression analysis of peritonitis outcomes, distant patients were more likely to be cured with antibiotics alone (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.03-2.24). All other outcomes were comparable between the two groups. Conclusions Living ≥100 km away from a PD unit was associated with increased risk of S. aureus peritonitis, modified approaches to peritonitis treatment and peritonitis outcomes that were comparable to, or better than patients living closer to a PD unit. Staphylococcal decolonisation should receive particular consideration in remote living patients. PMID:22702659

Screening of exciplex formation by distant electron transfer.

PubMed

Fedorenko, S G; Khokhlova, S S; Burshtein, A I

2012-01-12

The excitation quenching by reversible exciplex formation, combined with irreversible but distant electron transfer, is considered by means of the integral encounter theory (IET). Assuming that the quenchers are in great excess, the set of IET equations for the excitations, free ions, and exciplexes is derived. Solving these equations gives the Laplace images of all these populations, and these are used to specify the quantum yields of the corresponding reaction products. It appears that diffusion facilitates the exciplex production and the electron transfer. On the other hand the stronger the electron transfer is, the weaker is the exciplex production. At slow diffusion the distant quenching of excitations by ionization prevents their reaching the contact where they can turn into exciplexes. This is a screening effect that is most pronounced when the ionization rate is large.

Increasing Negativity of Age Stereotypes across 200 Years: Evidence from a Database of 400 Million Words

PubMed Central

Ng, Reuben; Allore, Heather G.; Trentalange, Mark; Monin, Joan K.; Levy, Becca R.

2015-01-01

Scholars argue about whether age stereotypes (beliefs about old people) are becoming more negative or positive over time. No previous study has systematically tested the trend of age stereotypes over more than 20 years, due to lack of suitable data. Our aim was to fill this gap by investigating whether age stereotypes have changed over the last two centuries and, if so, what may be associated with this change. We hypothesized that age stereotypes have increased in negativity due, in part, to the increasing medicalization of aging. This study applied computational linguistics to the recently compiled Corpus of Historical American English (COHA), a database of 400 million words that includes a range of printed sources from 1810 to 2009. After generating a comprehensive list of synonyms for the term elderly for these years from two historical thesauri, we identified 100 collocates (words that co-occurred most frequently with these synonyms) for each of the 20 decades. Inclusion criteria for the collocates were: (1) appeared within four words of the elderly synonym, (2) referred to an old person, and (3) had a stronger association with the elderly synonym than other words appearing in the database for that decade. This yielded 13,100 collocates that were rated for negativity and medicalization. We found that age stereotypes have become more negative in a linear way over 200 years. In 1880, age stereotypes switched from being positive to being negative. In addition, support was found for two potential explanations. Medicalization of aging and the growing proportion of the population over the age of 65 were both significantly associated with the increase in negative age stereotypes. The upward trajectory of age-stereotype negativity makes a case for remedial action on a societal level. PMID:25675438

High-resolution reconstruction of Arctic paleoclimate derived from 53 million year old kimberlite-hosted Metasequoia wood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walker, J. J.; Halfar, J.; Schulze, D.; Gedalof, Z.; Moore, G. W. K.

2009-04-01

The recovery of exceptionally well preserved Eocene wood from kimberlite pipes in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories, Canada, has allowed for the characterization of the local temperature and hydrologic patterns on an annual scale for this arctic ecosystem (present day latitude: 64 deg N). Wood fragments of ancient Metasequoia sp. trees mixed into the crater facies during kimberlite emplacement were recovered from the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines. Wood recovered from the Ekati "Panda" pipe, which has been dated using Rb-Sr age determination at 53.3 +/- 0.6 million years, is unique in that it exhibits extremely low vitrinite reflectance values, comparable to that of modern near-surface peats. The implication is that the wood has undergone minimal thermal or compressional alteration, thus preserving the geochemical signatures originally formed during growth. Ring width measurements representing over 100 years of climate data show congruence between multiple samples, thus enabling the development of a floating master chronology. Patterns contained in this chronology are of particular interest as the early Eocene was characterized by a period of unusual warming that has been compared to modern day climate change. Wood cellulose does not exchange atoms with its surroundings after formation, making it an ideal candidate for stable isotope analysis once it has been separated from associated whole-wood components. A robotic micromilling device was used to collect whole wood samples of latewood from annual tree rings. The α-cellulose in the samples will be isolated and analyzed for δ13C and δ18O, generating a 34-year floating chronology that can be used to reconstruct decadal scale temperature and humidity patterns. Successful application of this technique suggests that a longer Eocene chronology, using additional wood samples recovered from the Panda pipe as well as samples from neighbouring pipes in the Lac de Gras region, can be developed.

Metastases from distant primary tumours on the head and neck: clinical manifestation and diagnostics of 91 cases.

PubMed

Baum, Sven Holger; Mohr, Christopher

2018-06-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate which primary tumours metastasize on the head and neck region, identify the kind of clinical manifestation, the types of diagnostics that should be performed, and prove that the therapy appears possible and useful. As many as 91 patients with a distant metastasis on the head and neck were enrolled in this retrospective clinical study from January 2004 to September 2016. All the patients were evaluated for clinical symptoms, primary tumour, localization, diagnostics, and surgical procedure. A total of 31 patients had asymptomatic swelling, 27 patients had symptomatic swelling, and nine experienced isolated pain without swelling. Most other symptoms were organ-specific. The most frequent localizations were the orbit (44 metastases), mandible (19), neck region (9), and skin (7). The most common primary tumours were breast carcinoma (44), bronchial carcinoma (12), and renal carcinoma (9). A biopsy was performed on 38 patients, a partial resection was done on 28 patients, extirpation on six patients, and a radical resection on 19 patients. Distant metastases on the head and neck are rare and, therefore, pose a challenge for the oncologist and other involved disciplines. Most distant metastases occur within the first five years. Late metastases, especially in breast carcinoma, are still possible after 20 years. A surgical examination should be carried out if the findings are not clear due to multiple differential diagnoses. In particular, surgical options under palliative aspects should be examined.

HUBBLE'S 100,000TH EXPOSURE CAPTURES IMAGE OF DISTANT QUASAR

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

The Hubble Space Telescope achieved its 100,000th exposure June 22 with a snapshot of a quasar that is about 9 billion light-years from Earth. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 clicked this image of the quasar, the bright object in the center of the photo. The fainter object just above it is an elliptical galaxy. Although the two objects appear to be close to each other, they are actually separated by about 2 billion light-years. Located about 7 billion light-years away, the galaxy is almost directly in front of the quasar. Astronomer Charles Steidel of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., indirectly discovered the galaxy when he examined the quasar's light, which contained information about the galaxy's chemical composition. The reason, Steidel found, was that the galaxy was absorbing the light at certain frequencies. The astronomer is examining other background quasars to determine which kinds of galaxies absorb light at the same frequencies. Steidel also was somewhat surprised to discover that the galaxy is an elliptical, rather than a spiral. Elliptical galaxies are generally believed to contain very little gas. However, this elliptical has a gaseous 'halo' and contains no visible stars. Part of the halo is directly in front of the quasar. The bright object to the right of the quasar is a foreground star. The quasar and star are separated by billions of light-years. The quasar looks as bright as the star because it produces a tremendous amount of light from a compact source. The 'disturbed-looking' double spiral galaxy above the quasar also is in the foreground. Credit: Charles Steidel (California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA) and NASA. Image files in GIF and JPEG format and captions may be accessed on Internet via anonymous ftp from ftp.stsci.edu in /pubinfo.

Modelling West Antarctic ice sheet growth and collapse through the past five million years.

PubMed

Pollard, David; DeConto, Robert M

2009-03-19

The West Antarctic ice sheet (WAIS), with ice volume equivalent to approximately 5 m of sea level, has long been considered capable of past and future catastrophic collapse. Today, the ice sheet is fringed by vulnerable floating ice shelves that buttress the fast flow of inland ice streams. Grounding lines are several hundred metres below sea level and the bed deepens upstream, raising the prospect of runaway retreat. Projections of future WAIS behaviour have been hampered by limited understanding of past variations and their underlying forcing mechanisms. Its variation since the Last Glacial Maximum is best known, with grounding lines advancing to the continental-shelf edges around approximately 15 kyr ago before retreating to near-modern locations by approximately 3 kyr ago. Prior collapses during the warmth of the early Pliocene epoch and some Pleistocene interglacials have been suggested indirectly from records of sea level and deep-sea-core isotopes, and by the discovery of open-ocean diatoms in subglacial sediments. Until now, however, little direct evidence of such behaviour has been available. Here we use a combined ice sheet/ice shelf model capable of high-resolution nesting with a new treatment of grounding-line dynamics and ice-shelf buttressing to simulate Antarctic ice sheet variations over the past five million years. Modelled WAIS variations range from full glacial extents with grounding lines near the continental shelf break, intermediate states similar to modern, and brief but dramatic retreats, leaving only small, isolated ice caps on West Antarctic islands. Transitions between glacial, intermediate and collapsed states are relatively rapid, taking one to several thousand years. Our simulation is in good agreement with a new sediment record (ANDRILL AND-1B) recovered from the western Ross Sea, indicating a long-term trend from more frequently collapsed to more glaciated states, dominant 40-kyr cyclicity in the Pliocene, and major retreats at

2.8 Million Years of Arctic Climate Change from Deep Drilling at Lake El'gygytgyn, NE Russia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melles, M.; Brigham-Grette, J.; Minyuk, P.; Wennrich, V.; Nowaczyk, N.; DeConto, R.; Anderson, P.; Andreev, A.; Haltia-Hovi, E.; Kukkonen, M.; Lozhkin, A.; Rosén, P.; Tarasov, P.

2012-12-01

coupling, which could be due to a reduction of Antarctic Bottom Water formation and/or a significant global sea-level rise during times of WAIS decays. References: Melles M. et al. (2011): The El'gygytgyn Scientific Drilling Project - conquering Arctic challenges through continental drilling. - Scientific Drilling, 11: 29-40. Melles M. et al. (2012): 2.8 Million Years of Arctic Climate Change from Lake El'gygytgyn, NE Russia. - Science, 337: 315-320. Nolan M. (2012): Analysis of local AWS and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data at Lake El'gygytgyn, and its implications for maintaining multi-year lake-ice covers. - Clim. Past Disc., 8: 1443-1483. Naish T. et al. (2009): Obliquity-paced Pliocene West Antarctic Ice Sheet oscillations. - Nature, 458: 322-329. Pollard D. and DeConto R.M. (2009): Modelling West Antarctic ice sheet growth and collapse through the past five million years. - Nature, 458: 329-332.

Randolph Plant passes 60-million-ton milestone

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sprouls, M.W.; Adam, B.O.

1983-09-01

Peabody Coal Co.'s Randolph coal preparation plant has processed 60 million tons of coal during 10 years of operation. The plant, which is in Illinois, receives coal from 3 mines and 2 more will eventually send their output for cleaning. Coal from one mine travels 2 miles overland to a 30,000 ton conical bunker constructed of Reinforced Earth. Clean coal is supplied for electricity generation. The plant uses water-only processes, with a jig and three stages of hydrocyclones. A flowsheet of the scalper circuit is given.

40 CFR 86.096-8 - Emission standards for 1996 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....096-8 Emission standards for 1996 and later model year light-duty vehicles. (a)(1) Standards. (i... tested with the procedures in subpart B indicated for 1996 model year, and shall not exceed the standards... subpart B of this part for 1995 model year light-duty vehicles and be subject to the standards described...

40 CFR 86.096-8 - Emission standards for 1996 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....096-8 Emission standards for 1996 and later model year light-duty vehicles. (a)(1) Standards. (i... tested with the procedures in subpart B indicated for 1996 model year, and shall not exceed the standards... subpart B of this part for 1995 model year light-duty vehicles and be subject to the standards described...

HUBBLE FINDS A BARE BLACK HOLE POURING OUT LIGHT

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided a never-before-seen view of a warped disk flooded with a torrent of ultraviolet light from hot gas trapped around a suspected massive black hole. [Right] This composite image of the core of the galaxy was constructed by combining a visible light image taken with Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), with a separate image taken in ultraviolet light with the Faint Object Camera (FOC). While the visible light image shows a dark dust disk, the ultraviolet image (color-coded blue) shows a bright feature along one side of the disk. Because Hubble sees ultraviolet light reflected from only one side of the disk, astronomers conclude the disk must be warped like the brim of a hat. The bright white spot at the image's center is light from the vicinity of the black hole which is illuminating the disk. [Left] A ground-based telescopic view of the core of the elliptical galaxy NGC 6251. The inset box shows Hubble Space Telescope's field of view. The galaxy is 300 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Minor. Photo Credit: Philippe Crane (European Southern Observatory), and NASA

[Distant healing and diabetes mellitus. A pilot study].

PubMed

Ebneter, M; Binder, M; Kristof, O; Walach, H; Saller, R

2002-02-01

The Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene, Freiburg (IGPP) in cooperation with the Abteilung Naturheilkunde, University Hospital, Zürich investigated whether Distant Healing has a beneficial effect on patients with diabetes mellitus regarding the state of the disease and quality of life. The goal of the pilot study was to observe the progression of the disease with various medical and psychological measures and to explore which of them might be sensitive for measuring possible treatment effects. 14 diabetic patients were observed for a period of 16 weeks. Within this time they underwent a treatment of 4 consecutive weeks (weeks 9-12) by 5 experienced and trustworthy healers each. Patients were informed about the duration of the treatment but not about the time point of its beginning. Patients and healers never met and there was no contact between researchers and patients during the study period. With regard to medical parameters, reduction in fructosamine level was observed during the healing period, increasing fructosamine level after the end of the healing period. Sensitivity, measured only at the beginning and at the end of the study period, decreased significantly. The other parameters showed some significant changes but there was no correlation to the Distant Healing intervention. Regarding the psychological data, only improvements were observed. The results indicate the possibility that a Distant Healing intervention could have certain effects on patients with diabetes mellitus. Copyright 2002 S. Karger GmbH, Freiburg

Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago.

PubMed

Mojzsis, S J; Arrhenius, G; McKeegan, K D; Harrison, T M; Nutman, A P; Friend, C R

1996-11-07

It is unknown when life first appeared on Earth. The earliest known microfossils (approximately 3,500 Myr before present) are structurally complex, and if it is assumed that the associated organisms required a long time to develop this degree of complexity, then the existence of life much earlier than this can be argued. But the known examples of crustal rocks older than 3,500 Myr have experienced intense metamorphism, which would have obliterated any fragile microfossils contained therein. It is therefore necessary to search for geochemical evidence of past biotic activity that has been preserved within minerals that are resistant to metamorphism. Here we report ion-microprobe measurements of the carbon-isotope composition of carbonaceous inclusions within grains of apatite (basic calcium phosphate) from the oldest known sediment sequences--a approximately 3,800-Myr-old banded iron formation from the Isua supracrustal belt, West Greenland, and a similar formation from the nearby Akilia island that is possibly older than 3,850 Myr. The carbon in the carbonaceous inclusions is isotopically light, indicative of biological activity; no known abiotic process can explain the data. Unless some unknown abiotic process exists which is able both to create such isotopically light carbon and then selectively incorporate it into apatite grains, our results provide evidence for the emergence of life on Earth by at least 3,800 Myr before present.

Evidence for Life on Earth before 3,800 Million Years Ago

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mojzsis, S. J.; Arrhenius, G.; McKeegan, K. D.; Harrison, T. M.; Nutman, A. P.; Friend, C. R. L.

1996-01-01

It is unknown when life first appeared on Earth. The earliest known microfossils (approx. 3,500 Myr before present) are structurally complex, and if it is assumed that the associated organisms required a long time to develop this degree of complexity, then the existence of life much earlier than this can be argued. But the known examples of crustal rocks older than approx. 3,500 Myr have experienced intense metamorphism, which would have obliterated any fragile microfossils contained therein. It is therefore necessary to search for geochemical evidence of past biotic activity that has been preserved within minerals that are resistant to metamorphism. Here we report ion-microprobe measurements of the carbon-isotope composition of carbonaceous inclusions within grains of apatite (basic calcium phosphate) from the oldest known sediment sequences a approx. 3,800 Myr-old banded iron formation from the Isua supracrustal belt, West Greenland, and a similar formation from the nearby Akilia island that is possibly older than 3,850 Myr. The carbon in the carbonaceous inclusions is isotopically light, indicative of biological activity; no known abiotic process can explain the data. Unless some unknown abiotic process exists which is able both to create such isotopically light carbon and then selectively incorporate it into apatite grains, our results provide evidence for the emergence of life on Earth by at least 3,800 Myr before present.

40 CFR 86.000-9 - Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....000-9 Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.000-9 includes...) and CO Model year Percentage 2002 40 2003 80 2004 100 Table A00-6—Useful Life Standards (G/MI) for... applicable model year's heavy light-duty trucks shall not exceed the applicable SFTP standards in table A00-6...

40 CFR 86.000-9 - Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....000-9 Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.000-9 includes...) and CO Model year Percentage 2002 40 2003 80 2004 100 Table A00-6—Useful Life Standards (G/MI) for... applicable model year's heavy light-duty trucks shall not exceed the applicable SFTP standards in table A00-6...

40 CFR 86.000-8 - Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....000-8 Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty vehicles. Section 86.000-8 includes... later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet the additional SFTP standards of table A00-2 (defined by...=NOX) and CO Model year Percentage 2000 40 2001 80 2002 100 Table A00-2—Useful Life Standards (G/MI...

40 CFR 86.000-8 - Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....000-8 Emission standards for 2000 and later model year light-duty vehicles. Section 86.000-8 includes... later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet the additional SFTP standards of table A00-2 (defined by...=NOX) and CO Model year Percentage 2000 40 2001 80 2002 100 Table A00-2—Useful Life Standards (G/MI...

Photographer : JPL Range : 5 million km. ( 3 million miles ) This photograph, shot from Voyager I,

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 5 million km. ( 3 million miles ) This photograph, shot from Voyager I, shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot, turbulent regions immediattely to the west, and, middle right, one of the several white ovals seen on Jupiter from Earth. This photograph represents much better resolution than ever seen by telescopic means to date. The Red Spot and Ovals both reveal intricate, involved structures, the smallest details of which, are estimated at 95 km. ( 55 miles ) across.

40 CFR 86.708-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.708-94 In-use emission standards for... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet all standards in tables... applicable Tier 1I standards in table H94-3. (2) Particulates. For in-use exhaust emissions for model years...

40 CFR 86.708-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.708-94 In-use emission standards for... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet all standards in tables... applicable Tier 1I standards in table H94-3. (2) Particulates. For in-use exhaust emissions for model years...

40 CFR 86.708-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.708-94 In-use emission standards for... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet all standards in tables... applicable Tier 1I standards in table H94-3. (2) Particulates. For in-use exhaust emissions for model years...

40 CFR 86.708-94 - In-use emission standards for 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Later Model Year Light-Duty Vehicles and Light-Duty Trucks § 86.708-94 In-use emission standards for... exhaust emissions from 1994 and later model year light-duty vehicles shall meet all standards in tables... applicable Tier 1I standards in table H94-3. (2) Particulates. For in-use exhaust emissions for model years...

Epigenomic reprogramming during pancreatic cancer progression links anabolic glucose metabolism to distant metastasis.

PubMed

McDonald, Oliver G; Li, Xin; Saunders, Tyler; Tryggvadottir, Rakel; Mentch, Samantha J; Warmoes, Marc O; Word, Anna E; Carrer, Alessandro; Salz, Tal H; Natsume, Sonoko; Stauffer, Kimberly M; Makohon-Moore, Alvin; Zhong, Yi; Wu, Hao; Wellen, Kathryn E; Locasale, Jason W; Iacobuzio-Donahue, Christine A; Feinberg, Andrew P

2017-03-01

During the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), heterogeneous subclonal populations emerge that drive primary tumor growth, regional spread, distant metastasis, and patient death. However, the genetics of metastases largely reflects that of the primary tumor in untreated patients, and PDAC driver mutations are shared by all subclones. This raises the possibility that an epigenetic process might operate during metastasis. Here we report large-scale reprogramming of chromatin modifications during the natural evolution of distant metastasis. Changes were targeted to thousands of large chromatin domains across the genome that collectively specified malignant traits, including euchromatin and large organized chromatin histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9)-modified (LOCK) heterochromatin. Remarkably, distant metastases co-evolved a dependence on the oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway (oxPPP), and oxPPP inhibition selectively reversed reprogrammed chromatin, malignant gene expression programs, and tumorigenesis. These findings suggest a model whereby linked metabolic-epigenetic programs are selected for enhanced tumorigenic fitness during the evolution of distant metastasis.

20-Year Risks of Breast-Cancer Recurrence after Stopping Endocrine Therapy at 5 Years.

PubMed

Pan, Hongchao; Gray, Richard; Braybrooke, Jeremy; Davies, Christina; Taylor, Carolyn; McGale, Paul; Peto, Richard; Pritchard, Kathleen I; Bergh, Jonas; Dowsett, Mitch; Hayes, Daniel F

2017-11-09

The administration of endocrine therapy for 5 years substantially reduces recurrence rates during and after treatment in women with early-stage, estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Extending such therapy beyond 5 years offers further protection but has additional side effects. Obtaining data on the absolute risk of subsequent distant recurrence if therapy stops at 5 years could help determine whether to extend treatment. In this meta-analysis of the results of 88 trials involving 62,923 women with ER-positive breast cancer who were disease-free after 5 years of scheduled endocrine therapy, we used Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses, stratified according to trial and treatment, to assess the associations of tumor diameter and nodal status (TN), tumor grade, and other factors with patients' outcomes during the period from 5 to 20 years. Breast-cancer recurrences occurred at a steady rate throughout the study period from 5 to 20 years. The risk of distant recurrence was strongly correlated with the original TN status. Among the patients with stage T1 disease, the risk of distant recurrence was 13% with no nodal involvement (T1N0), 20% with one to three nodes involved (T1N1-3), and 34% with four to nine nodes involved (T1N4-9); among those with stage T2 disease, the risks were 19% with T2N0, 26% with T2N1-3, and 41% with T2N4-9. The risk of death from breast cancer was similarly dependent on TN status, but the risk of contralateral breast cancer was not. Given the TN status, the factors of tumor grade (available in 43,590 patients) and Ki-67 status (available in 7692 patients), which are strongly correlated with each other, were of only moderate independent predictive value for distant recurrence, but the status regarding the progesterone receptor (in 54,115 patients) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) (in 15,418 patients in trials with no use of trastuzumab) was not predictive. During the study period from 5 to 20 years, the

A hot Jupiter orbiting a 2-million-year-old solar-mass T Tauri star.

PubMed

Donati, J F; Moutou, C; Malo, L; Baruteau, C; Yu, L; Hébrard, E; Hussain, G; Alencar, S; Ménard, F; Bouvier, J; Petit, P; Takami, M; Doyon, R; Collier Cameron, A

2016-06-30

Hot Jupiters are giant Jupiter-like exoplanets that orbit their host stars 100 times more closely than Jupiter orbits the Sun. These planets presumably form in the outer part of the primordial disk from which both the central star and surrounding planets are born, then migrate inwards and yet avoid falling into their host star. It is, however, unclear whether this occurs early in the lives of hot Jupiters, when they are still embedded within protoplanetary disks, or later, once multiple planets are formed and interact. Although numerous hot Jupiters have been detected around mature Sun-like stars, their existence has not yet been firmly demonstrated for young stars, whose magnetic activity is so intense that it overshadows the radial velocity signal that close-in giant planets can induce. Here we report that the radial velocities of the young star V830 Tau exhibit a sine wave of period 4.93 days and semi-amplitude 75 metres per second, detected with a false-alarm probability of less than 0.03 per cent, after filtering out the magnetic activity plaguing the spectra. We find that this signal is unrelated to the 2.741-day rotation period of V830 Tau and we attribute it to the presence of a planet of mass 0.77 times that of Jupiter, orbiting at a distance of 0.057 astronomical units from the host star. Our result demonstrates that hot Jupiters can migrate inwards in less than two million years, probably as a result of planet–disk interactions.

The International Year of Light 2015 and its impact on educational activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curticapean, Dan; Vauderwange, Oliver; Wozniak, Peter; Mandal, Avikarsha

2016-09-01

The International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies 2015 (IYL 2015) was celebrated around the world. Worldwide activities were organized to highlight the impact of optics and photonics on life, science, economics, arts and culture, and also in education. With most of our activities at Offenburg University of Applied Sciences (Offenburg/Germany), we reached our own students and the general population of our region: - University for Children: "The Magic of Light" winter lecture program and "Across the Universe with Relativity and Quantum Theory" summer lecture program - "Students Meet Scientists" - "A Century of General Relativity Theory" lecture program Nevertheless, with some of our activities we also engaged a worldwide audience: - IYL 2015 art poster collection (Magic of Light and No Football, Just Photonics) - Smart Interactive Projection - Twitter Wall - "Invisible Light" - Live broadcasting of the total lunar eclipse - Film Festival Merida Mexico The authors will highlight recent activities at our university dedicated to promote, celebrate, and create a legacy for the IYL 2015.

CD44 increases the efficiency of distant metastasis of breast cancer

PubMed Central

McFarlane, Suzanne; Coulter, Jonathan A.; Tibbits, Paul; O'Grady, Anthony; McFarlane, Cheryl; Montgomery, Nicola; Hill, Ashleigh; McCarthy, Helen O.; Young, Leonie S.; Kay, Elaine W.; Isacke, Clare M.; Waugh, David J.J.

2015-01-01

Metastasis is the predominant cause of death from cancer yet we have few biomarkers to predict patients at increased risk of metastasis and are unable to effectively treat disseminated disease. Analysis of 448 primary breast tumors determined that expression of the hylauronan receptor CD44 associated with high grade (p = 0.046), ER- (p = 0.001) and PR-negative tumors (p = 0.029), and correlated with increased distant recurrence and reduced disease-free survival in patients with lymph-node positive or large tumors. To determine its functional role in distant metastasis, CD44 was knocked-down in MDA-MB-231 cells using two independent shRNA sequences. Loss of CD44 attenuated tumor cell adhesion to endothelial cells and reduced cell invasion but did not affect proliferation in vitro. To verify the importance of CD44 to post-intravasation events, tumor formation was assessed by quantitative in vivo imaging and post-mortem tissue analysis following an intra-cardiac injection of transfected cells. CD44 knock-down increased survival and decreased overall tumor burden at multiple sites, including the skeleton in vivo. We conclude that elevated CD44 expression on tumour cells within the systemic circulation increases the efficiency of post-intravasation events and distant metastasis in vivo, consistent with its association with increased distant recurrence and reduced disease-free survival in patients. PMID:25888636

The fates of Solar system analogues with one additional distant planet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Veras, Dimitri

2016-12-01

The potential existence of a distant planet (`Planet Nine') in the Solar system has prompted a re-think about the evolution of planetary systems. As the Sun transitions from a main-sequence star into a white dwarf, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are currently assumed to survive in expanded but otherwise unchanged orbits. However, a sufficiently distant and sufficiently massive extra planet would alter this quiescent end scenario through the combined effects of Solar giant branch mass-loss and Galactic tides. Here, I estimate bounds for the mass and orbit of a distant extra planet that would incite future instability in systems with a Sun-like star and giant planets with masses and orbits equivalent to those of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. I find that this boundary is diffuse and strongly dependent on each of the distant planet's orbital parameters. Nevertheless, I claim that instability occurs more often than not when the planet is as massive as Jupiter and harbours a semimajor axis exceeding about 300 au, or has a mass of a super-Earth and a semimajor axis exceeding about 3000 au. These results hold for orbital pericentres ranging from 100 to at least 400 au. This instability scenario might represent a common occurrence, as potentially evidenced by the ubiquity of metal pollution in white dwarf atmospheres throughout the Galaxy.

Investigating Eastern Equatorial Pacific Export Production and Carbonate Dissolution with XRF Core Scanning at ODP Site 846 Over the Last 5 Million Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, C.; Robinson, R. S.

2015-12-01

Coastal and equatorial upwelling in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific (EEP) are responsible for about 10% of the ocean's total production. The deep, cold, nutrient-rich waters supplied by upwelling originate in high latitudes, linking changes at high latitudes to the tropics. The Pliocene/Pleistocene transition which started around 2.7-3 million years ago (Ma) marked a period of higher variability in biological production and sea surface temperatures dominated by glacial/interglacial cycles. In addition, secular changes in the development of both Walker and Hadley cells appear to have impacted the strength of equatorial upwelling. However, the large positive production excursions, such as those found from 1.6 to 2.2 Ma, remain only moderately well characterized and both changes in high latitude nutrient supply and regional upwelling strength are implicated. ODP Site 846 is located in the heart of the EEP upwelling cold tongue and has ideal characteristics for examining these links and excursions. We present high-resolution (~0.5 ky) X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) chemical profiles of Ca, Si, Ba, Mn, Fe, Al, and Ti, as well as a total nitrogen (TN%) record for the last 5 million years from ODP Site 846. We use these high resolution profiles in conjunction with other regional data to assess biogeochemical processes in the EEP over the last 5 million years. CaCO3 and SiO2 are the two dominant biogenic components and account for more than 95% of the sediment. BaSO4 and the discrete TN% measurements record total productivity. MnO and Fe2O3 are redox-sensitive species and are particularly suited to tracing dissolution related to excess bottom-water metabolic processes driven by high export production at the high-alkalinity Site 846. Al2O3 and TiO2 are tracers of terrigenous input. A transition between low amplitude and high amplitude carbonate cycles occurs at 2.8 Ma, coinciding with the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition to higher amplitude glacial cycles. Notable excursions from

Outreach activities on light science and technology at TecnOpto-UMH during the International Year of Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sánchez-López, María. del Mar; García-Martínez, Pascuala; Espinosa, Rocío.; Carnicer, Jesús; Arias, Julia; Moreno, Ignacio

2016-09-01

TecnOpto is a group of researchers and teachers with interests in Optics and Photonics, located at the University Miguel Hernández (UMH) of Elche (Spain). Here we report on our outreach activities carried out during the International Year of Light - 2015. They include experiments and demonstrations at elementary and secondary schools, seminars and exhibitions at the university, and the activity named the "Classroom for the Experience", targeted to elder people. We also report on our participation in the science fair in Elche and in the launching of "the Room of Light", a complete new section of the MUDIC science museum devoted to light and optics. MUDIC is located in the UMH campus of Orihuela, and receives visitors from all over the region, mainly young students from elementary and secondary schools. Finally, we report on the exhibition "Women in Light Science and Light Technologies" which was organized by members of our group in collaboration with RSEF - the Spanish Royal Physical Society and SEDOPTICA - the Spanish Optical Society and sponsored by SPIE. This exhibition consisting of twelve posters on relevant women scientists was inaugurated in the XI Spanish Meeting on Optics and has travelled around many universities and cultural centers in Spain. A summary of the contents, participation and developing of all these activities is presented.

How do probiotics and prebiotics function at distant sites?

PubMed

Reid, G; Abrahamsson, T; Bailey, M; Bindels, L B; Bubnov, R; Ganguli, K; Martoni, C; O'Neill, C; Savignac, H M; Stanton, C; Ship, N; Surette, M; Tuohy, K; van Hemert, S

2017-08-24

The realisation that microbes regarded as beneficial to the host can impart effects at sites distant from their habitat, has raised many possibilities for treatment of diseases. The objective of a workshop hosted in Turku, Finland, by the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics, was to assess the evidence for these effects and the extent to which early life microbiome programming influences how the gut microbiota communicates with distant sites. In addition, we examined how probiotics and prebiotics might affect the skin, airways, heart, brain and metabolism. The growing levels of scientific and clinical evidence showing how microbes influence the physiology of many body sites, leads us to call for more funding to advance a potentially exciting avenue for novel therapies for many chronic diseases.

Blind haste: As light decreases, speeding increases.

PubMed

de Bellis, Emanuel; Schulte-Mecklenbeck, Michael; Brucks, Wernher; Herrmann, Andreas; Hertwig, Ralph

2018-01-01

Worldwide, more than one million people die on the roads each year. A third of these fatal accidents are attributed to speeding, with properties of the individual driver and the environment regarded as key contributing factors. We examine real-world speeding behavior and its interaction with illuminance, an environmental property defined as the luminous flux incident on a surface. Drawing on an analysis of 1.2 million vehicle movements, we show that reduced illuminance levels are associated with increased speeding. This relationship persists when we control for factors known to influence speeding (e.g., fluctuations in traffic volume) and consider proxies of illuminance (e.g., sight distance). Our findings add to a long-standing debate about how the quality of visual conditions affects drivers' speed perception and driving speed. Policy makers can intervene by educating drivers about the inverse illuminance‒speeding relationship and by testing how improved vehicle headlights and smart road lighting can attenuate speeding.

Zooniverse - Real science online with more than a million people. (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, A.; Lynn, S.; Lintott, C.; Whyte, L.; Borden, K. A.

2013-12-01

The Zooniverse (zooniverse.org) began in 2007 with the launch of Galaxy Zoo, a project in which more than 175,000 people provided shape analyses of more than 1 million galaxy images sourced from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. These galaxy 'classifications', some 60 million in total, have since been used to produce more than 50 peer-reviewed publications based not only on the original research goals of the project but also because of serendipitous discoveries made by the volunteer community. Based upon the success of Galaxy Zoo the team have gone on to develop more than 25 web-based citizen science projects, all with a strong research focus in a range of subjects from astronomy to zoology where human-based analysis still exceeds that of machine intelligence. Over the past 6 years Zooniverse projects have collected more than 300 million data analyses from over 1 million volunteers providing fantastically rich datasets for not only the individuals working to produce research from their project but also the machine learning and computer vision research communities. This talk will focus on the core 'method' by which Zooniverse projects are developed and lessons learned by the Zooniverse team developing citizen science projects across a range of disciplines.

First Light Detected from Gravitational Wave Event on This Week @NASA – October 20, 2017

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-20

For the first time, NASA scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event. The gravitational wave – caused by an explosive merger of two neutron stars, about 130 million light-years from Earth – produced a gamma-ray burst and a rarely seen flare-up called a "kilonova". The phenomenon was captured by our Fermi, Swift, Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer missions, along with dozens of NASA-funded ground-based observatories. Also, Trio of Station Spacewalks Completed, Fresh Findings from Cassini, and Test of SLS RS-25 Flight Engine!

Learning in professionally 'distant' contexts: opportunities and challenges.

PubMed

Mausz, Justin; Tavares, Walter

2017-08-01

The changing nature of healthcare education and delivery is such that clinicians will increasingly find themselves practicing in contexts that are physically and/or conceptually different from the settings in which they were trained, a practice that conflicts on some level with socio-cultural theories of learning that emphasize learning in context. Our objective was therefore to explore learning in 'professionally distant' contexts. Using paramedic education, where portions of training occur in hospital settings despite preparing students for out-of-hospital work, fifty-three informants (11 current students, 13 recent graduates, 16 paramedic program faculty and 13 program coordinators/directors) took part in five semi-structured focus groups. Participants reflected on the value and role of hospital placements in paramedic student development. All sessions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. In this context six educational advantages and two challenges were identified when using professionally distant learning environments. Learning could still be associated with features such as (a) engagement through "authenticity", (b) technical skill development, (c) interpersonal skill development, (d) psychological resilience, (e) healthcare system knowledge and (f) scaffolding. Variability in learning and misalignment with learning goals were identified as potential threats. Learning environments that are professionally distant from eventual practice settings may prove meaningful by providing learners with foundational and preparatory learning experiences for competencies that may be transferrable. This suggests that where learning occurs may be less important than how the experience contributes to the learner's development and the meaning or value he/she derives from it.

Photographer : JPL Range : 6 million kilometers (3.7 million miles) Central Longitude 120 degrees

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 6 million kilometers (3.7 million miles) Central Longitude 120 degrees west, North is up. and 3rd from the planet. Photo taken after midnight Ganymede is slightly larger than Mercury but much less dense (twice the density of water). Its surface brightness is 4 times of Earth's Moon. Mare regions (dark features) are like the Moon's but have twice the brightness, and believed to be unlikely of rock or lava as the Moon's are. It's north pole seems covered with brighter material and may be water frost. Scattered brighter spots may be related to impact craters or source of fresh ice.

Distant retrograde orbits for the Moon's exploration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidorenko, Vladislav

We discuss the properties of the distant retrograde orbits (which are called quasi-satellite orbits also) around Moon. For the first time the distant retrograde orbits were described by J.Jackson in studies on restricted three body problem at the beginning of 20th century [1]. In the synodic (rotating) reference frame distant retrograde orbit looks like an ellipse whose center is slowly drifting in the vicinity of minor primary body while in the inertial reference frame the third body is orbiting the major primary body. Although being away the Hill sphere the third body permanently stays close enough to the minor primary. Due to this reason the distant retrograde orbits are called “quasi-satellite” orbits (QS-orbits) too. Several asteroids in solar system are in a QS-orbit with respect to one of the planet. As an example we can mention the asteroid 2002VE68 which circumnavigates Venus [2]. Attention of specialists in space flight mechanics was attracted to QS-orbits after the publications of NASA technical reports devoted to periodic moon orbits [3,4]. Moving in QS-orbit the SC remains permanently (or at least for long enough time) in the vicinity of small celestial body even in the case when the Hill sphere lies beneath the surface of the body. The properties of the QS-orbit can be studied using the averaging of the motion equations [5,6,7]. From the theoretical point of view it is a specific case of 1:1 mean motion resonance. The integrals of the averaged equations become the parameters defining the secular evolution of the QS-orbit. If the trajectory is robust enough to small perturbations in the simplified problem (i.e., restricted three body problem) it may correspond to long-term stability of the real-world orbit. Our investigations demonstrate that under the proper choice of the initial conditions the QS-orbits don’t escape from Moon or don’t impact Moon for long enough time. These orbits can be recommended as a convenient technique for the large

Protection of Hawaii's Observatories from Light Pollution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wainscoat, Richard J.

2018-01-01

Maunakea Observatory, located on the island of Hawaii, is among the world darkest sites for astronomy. Strong efforts to preserve the dark night sky over the last forty years have proven successful. Artificial light presently adds only approximately 2% to the natural night sky brightness. The techniques being used to protect Maunakea from light pollution will be described, along with the challenges that are now being faced.Haleakala Observatory, located on the island of Maui, is also an excellent observing site, and is among the best sites in the United States. Lighting restrictions in Maui County are much weaker, and consequently, the night sky above Haleakala is less well protected. Haleakala is closer to Honolulu and the island of Oahu (population approximately 1 million), and the glow from Oahu makes the northwestern sky brighter.Much of the lighting across most of the United States, including Hawaii, is presently being converted to LED lighting. This provides an opportunity to replace existing poorly shielded lights with properly shielded LED fixtures, but careful spectral management is essential. It is critically important to only use LED lighting that is deficient in blue and green light. LED lighting also is easy to dim. Dimming of lights later at night, when there is no need for brighter lighting, is an important tool for reducing light pollution.Techniques used to protect astronomical observatories from light pollution are similar to the techniques that must be used to protect animals that are affected by light at night, such as endangered birds and turtles. These same techniques are compatible with recent human health related lighting recommendations from the American Medical Association.

Light adaptation and the evolution of vertebrate photoreceptors.

PubMed

Morshedian, Ala; Fain, Gordon L

2017-07-15

Lamprey are cyclostomes, a group of vertebrates that diverged from lines leading to jawed vertebrates (including mammals) in the late Cambrian, 500 million years ago. It may therefore be possible to infer properties of photoreceptors in early vertebrate progenitors by comparing lamprey to other vertebrates. We show that lamprey rods and cones respond to light much like rods and cones in amphibians and mammals. They operate over a similar range of light intensities and adapt to backgrounds and bleaches nearly identically. These correspondences are pervasive and detailed; they argue for the presence of rods and cones very early in the evolution of vertebrates with properties much like those of rods and cones in existing vertebrate species. The earliest vertebrates were agnathans - fish-like organisms without jaws, which first appeared near the end of the Cambrian radiation. One group of agnathans became cyclostomes, which include lamprey and hagfish. Other agnathans gave rise to jawed vertebrates or gnathostomes, the group including all other existing vertebrate species. Because cyclostomes diverged from other vertebrates 500 million years ago, it may be possible to infer some of the properties of the retina of early vertebrate progenitors by comparing lamprey to other vertebrates. We have previously shown that rods and cones in lamprey respond to light much like photoreceptors in other vertebrates and have a similar sensitivity. We now show that these affinities are even closer. Both rods and cones adapt to background light and to bleaches in a manner almost identical to other vertebrate photoreceptors. The operating range in darkness is nearly the same in lamprey and in amphibian or mammalian rods and cones; moreover background light shifts response-intensity curves downward and to the right over a similar range of ambient intensities. Rods show increment saturation at about the same intensity as mammalian rods, and cones never saturate. Bleaches decrease

Changes in ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition and declining diversity along a 2-million-year soil chronosequence.

PubMed

Albornoz, Felipe E; Teste, François P; Lambers, Hans; Bunce, Michael; Murray, Dáithí C; White, Nicole E; Laliberté, Etienne

2016-10-01

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungal communities covary with host plant communities along soil fertility gradients, yet it is unclear whether this reflects changes in host composition, fungal edaphic specialization or priority effects during fungal community establishment. We grew two co-occurring ECM plant species (to control for host identity) in soils collected along a 2-million-year chronosequence representing a strong soil fertility gradient and used soil manipulations to disentangle the effects of edaphic properties from those due to fungal inoculum. Ectomycorrhizal fungal community composition changed and richness declined with increasing soil age; these changes were linked to pedogenesis-driven shifts in edaphic properties, particularly pH and resin-exchangeable and organic phosphorus. However, when differences in inoculum potential or soil abiotic properties among soil ages were removed while host identity was held constant, differences in ECM fungal communities and richness among chronosequence stages disappeared. Our results show that ECM fungal communities strongly vary during long-term ecosystem development, even within the same hosts. However, these changes could not be attributed to short-term fungal edaphic specialization or differences in fungal inoculum (i.e. density and composition) alone. Rather, they must reflect longer-term ecosystem-level feedback between soil, vegetation and ECM fungi during pedogenesis. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Photographer : JPL Range : 5.9 million kilometers (3.66 million miles) Europa is Jupiter's 2nd

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 5.9 million kilometers (3.66 million miles) Europa is Jupiter's 2nd Galilean satellites from the planet and the brightest. Photo taken early morning through violet filter. Faint swirls and linear patterns show in the equatorial region (which shows darker than the poles). This hemisphere always faces Jupiter. North is up. Density and size comparable to Earth's Moon and seems to show water ice or ground water on its surface.

Mars at 43 Million Miles From Earth

NASA Image and Video Library

2001-06-26

NASA Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope took the picture on June 26, 2001 when Mars was approximately 43 million miles 68 million km from Earth -- the closest Mars has ever been to Earth since 1988.

Meningeal hemangiopericytoma with delayed multiple distant metastases.

PubMed

Chang, Chiung-Chih; Chang, Yung-Yee; Lui, Chun-Chung; Huang, Chao-Cheng; Liu, Jia-Shou

2004-10-01

A 43-year-old housewife suffered from an occipital headache, and brain computed tomography (CT) showed an occipital meningeal tumor. She received a complete tumor excision and the tumor pathology was interpreted as atypical meningioma. Five years later, a subacute left neck pain with radiation to the left arm occurred. A tumor invading the second and third cervical vertebrae with compression on the dural sac was found. Angiography revealed hypervascular tumor staining supplied from the left vertebral artery. CT-guided biopsy was performed and nests of atypical spindle cells accompanied by staghorn vascular pattern were revealed histologically. Immunohistochemical studies showed positive vimentin staining but negative reactions to epithelial membrane antigen, cytokeratin low molecular weight, cytokeratin high molecular weight, CD34 and S-100 protein. Estimation of the Ki-67 proliferative (mitotic) index by using MIB-1 monoclonal antibody was 12%. Later on, a systemic survey revealed lesions in the left lung, liver and kidney. The diagnosis was revised to hemangiopericytoma. Distant metastasis is common in this tumor. However, the delayed multiple metastases without local recurrence were relatively rare. The clinical course in this patient also supported that a high mitotic activity may correlate with a poor prognosis even if the pathology is taken from the metastatic tissue, and that long-term follow-up is mandatory. Detailed immunohistochemical staining is helpful in avoiding misdiagnosis of meningioma.

Stirring of a planetesimal swarm - The role of distant encounters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Weidenschilling, Stuart J.

1989-01-01

The viscous stirring algorithm developed by Stewart and Wetherill (1988) to treat the random velocities induced in planetesimals by their mutual gravitational perturbations encompasses only the scattering of bodies in crossing orbits by close encounters. Expressions are presently derived for the stirring rate due to distant encounters on the basis of three-body formalism, using a stirring rate that has the same mass-dependence as that for close encounters. The relative importance of both the close encounter and distant encounter mechanisms depends on the Safronov number. Perturbations by a planetary embryo in scenarios that involve explosive growth are found capable of affecting planetesimal evolution in noncrossing orbits.

40 CFR 86.099-9 - Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....099-9 Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks. (a)(1)(i)-(iii) [Reserved... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.099-9 Section 86.099-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

40 CFR 86.004-9 - Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

....004-9 Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.004-9 includes... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.004-9 Section 86.004-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

40 CFR 86.004-9 - Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

....004-9 Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.004-9 includes... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.004-9 Section 86.004-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

40 CFR 86.004-9 - Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

....004-9 Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.004-9 includes... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.004-9 Section 86.004-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

40 CFR 86.004-9 - Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

....004-9 Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. Section 86.004-9 includes... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Emission standards for 2004 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.004-9 Section 86.004-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

40 CFR 86.099-9 - Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

....099-9 Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks. (a)(1)(i)-(iii) [Reserved... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Emission standards for 1999 and later model year light-duty trucks. 86.099-9 Section 86.099-9 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL...

Stochastic modelling of basal temperatures in divide regions of the Antarctic ice sheet over the last 1.5 million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van Liefferinge, Brice; Pattyn, Frank; Cavitte, Marie G. P.; Young, Duncan A.; Roberts, Jason L.

2017-04-01

The quest for oldest ice in Antarctica has recently been launched through an EU H2020 project (Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice) and aims at identifying suitable areas for a potential future drilling. Retrieving an ice core of such age is essential to understand the relation between orbital changes and atmospheric composition during the mid-Pliocene transition. However, sites for a potential undisturbed record of 1.5 million-year old ice in Antarctica are difficult to find and require slow-moving ice (preferably an ice divide) and basal conditions that are not disturbed by large topographic variations. Furthermore, ice should be sufficiently thick but cold basal conditions should still prevail, since basal melting would destroy the bottom layers. Therefore, ice-flow conditions and thermodynamic characteristics are crucial for identifying potential locations of undisturbed ice. Van Liefferinge and Pattyn (2013) identified suitable areas based on a pan-Antarctic simplified thermodynamic ice sheet model and demonstrated that uncertainty in geothermal conditions remain a major unknown. In order to refine these estimates, and provide uncertainties, we employ a full thermo-mechanically coupled higher-order ice sheet model (Pattyn, 2003; Pattyn et al., 2004). Initial conditions for the calculations are based on an inversion of basal slipperiness, based on observed surface topography (Pollard and DeConto, 2012; Pattyn, in prep.). Uncertainties in geothermal conditions are introduced using the convolution of two Gaussian probability density functions: (a) the reconstruction of the Antarctic ice sheet geometry and testing ice thickness variability over the last 2 million years (Pollard and DeConto, 2009) and (b) the surface temperature reconstruction over the same period (Snyder et al., 2016). The standard deviation, the skewness and the kurtosis of the whole Antarctic ice sheet are analyzed to observe likely probable melt conditions. Finally, we focus on model results in the

Paleohydrology Reconstruction of the Tropical South America for the Past 1.6 Million Years.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oliveira, A. S.; Baker, P. A.; Silva, C. G.; Dwyer, G. S.; Rigsby, C. A.; Chiessi, C. M.

2016-12-01

The western Atlantic equatorial margin has been recognized as an important part of global climate change. It is responsible for the transfer of moisture to South America and, heat and fresh water to the northern hemisphere. It might hold answers to past and present global climate. We reconstructed the last 1.6 million years of the paleoclimatic record of the Tropical South American to assess a long period of oceanic and atmospheric variability, which still remains unknown to science. Paleoclimate reconstructions of the Tropical South American are determined on a sediment core located on the Brazilian continental slope. High-resolution XRF analyses of Fe, Ti, K and Ca are used to define the paleohydrologic evolution. Here we present elemental ratios of Ti/Ca and Fe/K, to determine variability in Tropical South America. Differences in sediment input observed on Fe/K and Ti/Ca ratios suggest periods of increased chemical weathering and precipitation. Comparison of our data with the Cariaco basin Molybdenum (Mo) records, suggests that the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is triggering wet periods on Tropical South America, distinguishing a clear North-South anti-phase over the last 600 ka. Southward displacement of the ITCZ in the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, indicates changes in the variability mode of the ITCZ N-S excursion, modulating the precipitation over Tropical South America. We also show that extensive northward migration of Antarctic Polar Front induces a drastic change in the Tropical South America hydrological system, triggering long periods of drought, potentially driven by cooler sea surface temperature of the South Atlantic. This study is funded by Capes- IODP 38/2014 and the Duke University.

Automatic Camera Control System for a Distant Lecture with Videoing a Normal Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suganuma, Akira; Nishigori, Shuichiro

The growth of a communication network technology enables students to take part in a distant lecture. Although many lectures are conducted in universities by using Web contents, normal lectures using a blackboard are still held. The latter style lecture is good for a teacher's dynamic explanation. A way to modify it for a distant lecture is to…

Robust distant-entanglement generation using coherent multiphoton scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Ching-Kit; Sham, L. J.

2013-03-01

The generation and controllability of entanglement between distant quantum states have been the heart of quantum computation and quantum information processing. Existing schemes for solid state qubit entanglement are based on the single-photon spectroscopy that has the merit of a high fidelity entanglement creation, but with a very limited efficiency. This severely restricts the scalability for a qubit network system. Here, we describe a new distant entanglement protocol using coherent multiphoton scattering. The scheme makes use of the postselection of large and distinguishable photon signals, and has both a high success probability and a high entanglement fidelity. Our result shows that the entanglement generation is robust against photon fluctuations, and has an average entanglement duration within the decoherence time in various qubit systems, based on existing experimental parameters. This research was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office MURI award W911NF0910406 and by NSF grant PHY-1104446.

Light-Flash Wind-Direction Indicator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zysko, Jan A.

1993-01-01

Proposed wind-direction indicator read easily by distant observers. Indicator emits bright flashes of light separated by interval of time proportional to angle between true north and direction from which wind blowing. Timing of flashes indicates direction of wind. Flashes, from high-intensity stroboscopic lights seen by viewers at distances up to 5 miles or more. Also seen more easily through rain and fog. Indicator self-contained, requiring no connections to other equipment. Power demand satisfied by battery or solar power or both. Set up quickly to provide local surface-wind data for aircraft pilots during landing or hovering, for safety officers establishing hazard zones and safety corridors during handling of toxic materials, for foresters and firefighters conducting controlled burns, and for real-time wind observations during any of variety of wind-sensitive operations.

Clinical value of 18 FDG PET/CT in screening for distant metastases in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

Deurvorst, S E; Hoekstra, O S; Castelijns, J A; Witte, B I; Leemans, C R; de Bree, R

2018-06-01

The detection of distant metastases is of major importance in management of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients. All patients underwent 18 FDG PET/CT for the detection of distant metastases. Retrospective single-centre study. Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients with high-risk factors for distant metastases. Accuracy of 18 FDG PET/CT for the detection of distant metastases using clinical development of distant metastases and a minimal follow-up of twelve months as reference standard. Comparison of overall survival between patients diagnosed with distant metastases during initial screening and patients diagnosed with distant metastases during follow-up. In 23 (12%) of the 190 patients, 18 FDG PET/CT detected distant metastases at screening. Sensitivity and negative predictive value were 46.2% (95% CI 32.6-59.7) and 82.6% (95% CI 76.8-88.5). No difference in median overall survival from the time of distant metastases detection was found between patients diagnosed with DM during work-up or during follow-up. In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients with high-risk factors, 18 FDG PET/CT has a high negative predictive value for the detection of distant metastases and should be used in daily clinical practice, although the sensitivity is limited when long-term follow-up is used as reference standard. © 2018 The Authors. Clinical Otolaryngology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Million Dollar Difference and 21st Century Teaching Skills Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moon, Debi; Moolenaar-Wirsiy, Pamela

2008-01-01

With a limited budget, but a critical need to develop 21st century marketplace skills, Georgia Perimeter College (GPC) developed the Million Dollar Difference Campaign. Focusing on how quality instruction affects retention and student outcomes, GPC re-energized a 1000-faculty workforce in one year through a series of innovative teaching…

Application for certification, 1993 model-year light-duty trucks - Grumman Olson

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-01-01

Every year, each manufacturer of passenger cars, light-duty trucks, motorcycles, or heavy-duty engines submits to EPA an application for certification. The report deals with light-duty trucks from Grumman Olson Company. In the application, the manufacturer gives a detailed technical description of the vehicles or engines he intends to market during the upcoming model year. These engineering data include explanations and/or drawings which describe engine/vehicle parameters such as basic engine design, fuel systems, ignition systems and exhaust and evaporative emission control systems. It also provides information on emission test procedures, service accumulation procedures, fuels to be used, and proposed maintenance requirementsmore » to be followed during testing. Section 16 of the application contains the results of emission testing, a statement of compliance to the regulations, production engine parameters, and a Summary Sheet Input Form on which issuance of a Certificate of Conformity is based.« less

Protostellar Disk Evolution over Million-year Timescales with a Prescription for Magnetized Turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Landry, Russell; Dodson-Robinson, Sarah E.; Turner, Neal J.; Abram, Greg

2013-07-01

Magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the most promising mechanism behind accretion in low-mass protostellar disks. Here we present the first analysis of the global structure and evolution of non-ideal MRI-driven T-Tauri disks on million-year timescales. We accomplish this in a 1+1D simulation by calculating magnetic diffusivities and utilizing turbulence activity criteria to determine thermal structure and accretion rate without resorting to a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation. Our major findings are as follows. First, even for modest surface densities of just a few times the minimum-mass solar nebula, the dead zone encompasses the giant planet-forming region, preserving any compositional gradients. Second, the surface density of the active layer is nearly constant in time at roughly 10 g cm-2, which we use to derive a simple prescription for viscous heating in MRI-active disks for those who wish to avoid detailed MHD computations. Furthermore, unlike a standard disk with constant-α viscosity, the disk midplane does not cool off over time, though the surface cools as the star evolves along the Hayashi track. Instead, the MRI may pile material in the dead zone, causing it to heat up over time. The ice line is firmly in the terrestrial planet-forming region throughout disk evolution and can move either inward or outward with time, depending on whether pileups form near the star. Finally, steady-state mass transport is an extremely poor description of flow through an MRI-active disk, as we see both the turnaround in the accretion flow required by conservation of angular momentum and peaks in \\dot{M}(R) bracketing each side of the dead zone. We caution that MRI activity is sensitive to many parameters, including stellar X-ray flux, grain size, gas/small grain mass ratio and magnetic field strength, and we have not performed an exhaustive parameter study here. Our 1+1D model also does not include azimuthal information, which prevents us from

PROTOSTELLAR DISK EVOLUTION OVER MILLION-YEAR TIMESCALES WITH A PRESCRIPTION FOR MAGNETIZED TURBULENCE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Landry, Russell; Dodson-Robinson, Sarah E.; Turner, Neal J.

2013-07-10

Magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the most promising mechanism behind accretion in low-mass protostellar disks. Here we present the first analysis of the global structure and evolution of non-ideal MRI-driven T-Tauri disks on million-year timescales. We accomplish this in a 1+1D simulation by calculating magnetic diffusivities and utilizing turbulence activity criteria to determine thermal structure and accretion rate without resorting to a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation. Our major findings are as follows. First, even for modest surface densities of just a few times the minimum-mass solar nebula, the dead zone encompasses the giant planet-forming region, preserving any compositional gradients. Second, themore » surface density of the active layer is nearly constant in time at roughly 10 g cm{sup -2}, which we use to derive a simple prescription for viscous heating in MRI-active disks for those who wish to avoid detailed MHD computations. Furthermore, unlike a standard disk with constant-{alpha} viscosity, the disk midplane does not cool off over time, though the surface cools as the star evolves along the Hayashi track. Instead, the MRI may pile material in the dead zone, causing it to heat up over time. The ice line is firmly in the terrestrial planet-forming region throughout disk evolution and can move either inward or outward with time, depending on whether pileups form near the star. Finally, steady-state mass transport is an extremely poor description of flow through an MRI-active disk, as we see both the turnaround in the accretion flow required by conservation of angular momentum and peaks in M-dot (R) bracketing each side of the dead zone. We caution that MRI activity is sensitive to many parameters, including stellar X-ray flux, grain size, gas/small grain mass ratio and magnetic field strength, and we have not performed an exhaustive parameter study here. Our 1+1D model also does not include azimuthal information, which

Photographer : JPL Range : 6.5 million kilometers (4 million miles) Six violet images of Jupiter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 6.5 million kilometers (4 million miles) Six violet images of Jupiter makes the mosaic photo, showing the Great Red Spot as a swirling vortex type motion. This motion is also seen in several nearby white clouds. These bright white clouds and the Red Spot are rotating in a counter clockwise direction, except the peculiar filimentary cloud to the right of the Red Spot is going clockwise. The top of the picture shows the turbulence from the equatorial jet and more northerly atmospheric currents. The smallest clouds shown are only 70 miles (120 km) across.

The International year of light 2015 and the “Cosmic light” message: awareness & dissemination in the UK

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marchetti, Lucia

2015-08-01

By proclaiming the IYL2015, the United Nations recognizes the importance of light and light based technology in the lives of the citizens of the world and for the development of global society on many levels. Light and application of light science and technology are vital for existing and future advances in many scientific areas (from medicine to information & communication technology) and culture. Light is a key element in Astronomy: as astronomers, it is what we study and makes our science possible, but it is also what threatens our observations when it is set-off from the ground (light pollution). This year represents a magnificent and unique opportunity for the global Astronomical community to disseminate these messages and raise the awareness of the importance and preservation of dark skies for heritage and the natural environment. Global and National initiatives are taking place during the year of 2015 (and beyond) and in my talk I will give an overview of what, as IYL National Committee and Gold Sponsor of the year, we are carrying out in the UK. I will explain how we developed our National Programme and I will discuss how we can build-up a long-lasting “cosmic light” communication strategy exploiting the lesson learnt while carrying out our IYL UK year plan.

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (5 million miles) Callisto is Jupiter's outermost

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 7 million kilometers (5 million miles) Callisto is Jupiter's outermost Galilean satellites and darkest of the four(but almost twice as bright as Earth's Moon). Mottled appearance from bright and dark patches. Bright spots seem like rayed or bright halved craters seen on our Moon. This face is always turned toward Jupiter. Photo taken through violet filter. Ganymede is slightly larger than Mercury but much less dense (twice the density of water). Its surface brightness is 4 times of Earth's Moon. Mare regions (dark features) are like the Moon's but have twice the brightness, and believed to be unlikely of rock or lava as the Moon's are. It's north pole seems covered with brighter material and may be water frost. Scattered brighter spots may be related to impact craters or source of fresh ice.

Philanthro-metrics: Mining multi-million-dollar gifts.

PubMed

Osili, Una O; Ackerman, Jacqueline; Kong, Chin Hua; Light, Robert P; Börner, Katy

2017-01-01

The Million Dollar List (MDL, online at http://www.milliondollarlist.org) is a compilation of publicly announced charitable donations of $1 million or more from across the United States since 2000; as of December 2016, the database contains close to 80,000 gifts made by U.S. individuals, corporations, foundations, and other grant-making nonprofit organizations. This paper discusses the unique value of the Million Dollar List and provides unique insights to key questions such as: How does distance affect giving? How do networks impact million-dollar-plus gifts? Understanding the geospatial and temporal dimensions of philanthropy can assist researchers and policymakers to better understand the role of private funding in innovation and discovery. Moreover, the results from the paper emphasize the importance of philanthropy for fueling research and development in science, the arts, environment, and health. The paper also includes the limitations of the presented analyses and promising future work.

Frequency and Correlates of Distant Visual Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder.

PubMed

Zheng, W; Tang, L R; Correll, C U; Ungvari, G S; Chiu, H F K; Xiang, Y Q; Xiang, Y T

2015-09-01

Distant visual impairment in the severely mentally ill is under-researched. This study aimed to assess the frequency and correlates of distant visual impairment in a cohort of Chinese psychiatric patients, including its effect on their quality of life. Adult psychiatric inpatients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder consecutively admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Beijing, China underwent assessments of psychopathology (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology [Self-Report]), quality of life (12-item Short-Form Medical Outcomes Study [SF-12], 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire [NEI-VFQ25]), adverse effects (Udvalg for Kliniske Undersøgelser Side Effect Rating Scale), and presenting (as opposed to uncorrected) distant visual acuity (Logarithm of the Minimum Angle of Resolution [LogMAR] chart with patients wearing spectacles, if they owned them). Distant visual impairment was defined as binocular distant visual acuity of a LogMAR score of ≥ 0.5 (< 6/18 Snellen acuity). Among 356 patients who met the study criteria, the frequency of distant visual impairment was 12.6% (15.2% with schizophrenia, 11.9% with bipolar disorder, 8.8% with major depressive disorder). In multiple logistic regression analysis, distant visual impairment was significantly associated with ocular disease only (p = 0.002, odds ratio = 3.2, 95% confidence interval = 1.5-6.7). Controlling for the confounding effect of ocular disease, patients with distant visual impairment had a lower quality of life in the general vision domain of the NEI-VFQ25 (F[2, 353] = 9.5, p = 0.002) compared with those without. No differences in the physical and mental domains of the SF-12 and in other domains of the NEI-VFQ25 were noted in these 2 groups. One-eighth of middle-aged severely mentally ill patients had distant visual impairment. Considering the impact of distant visual impairment on daily functioning

An Elegant Galaxy in an Unusual Light

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2010-09-01

A new image taken with the powerful HAWK-I camera on ESO's Very Large Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile shows the beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1365 in infrared light. NGC 1365 is a member of the Fornax cluster of galaxies, and lies about 60 million light-years from Earth. NGC 1365 is one of the best known and most studied barred spiral galaxies and is sometimes nicknamed the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy because of its strikingly perfect form, with the straight bar and two very prominent outer spiral arms. Closer to the centre there is also a second spiral structure and the whole galaxy is laced with delicate dust lanes. This galaxy is an excellent laboratory for astronomers to study how spiral galaxies form and evolve. The new infrared images from HAWK-I are less affected by the dust that obscures parts of the galaxy than images in visible light (potw1037a) and they reveal very clearly the glow from vast numbers of stars in both the bar and the spiral arms. These data were acquired to help astronomers understand the complex flow of material within the galaxy and how it affects the reservoirs of gas from which new stars can form. The huge bar disturbs the shape of the gravitational field of the galaxy and this leads to regions where gas is compressed and star formation is triggered. Many huge young star clusters trace out the main spiral arms and each contains hundreds or thousands of bright young stars that are less than ten million years old. The galaxy is too remote for single stars to be seen in this image and most of the tiny clumps visible in the picture are really star clusters. Over the whole galaxy, stars are forming at a rate of about three times the mass of our Sun per year. While the bar of the galaxy consists mainly of older stars long past their prime, many new stars are born in stellar nurseries of gas and dust in the inner spiral close to the nucleus. The bar also funnels gas and dust gravitationally into the very centre of the galaxy

A method of real-time detection for distant moving obstacles by monocular vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Bao-zhi; Zhu, Ming

2013-12-01

In this paper, we propose an approach for detection of distant moving obstacles like cars and bicycles by a monocular camera to cooperate with ultrasonic sensors in low-cost condition. We are aiming at detecting distant obstacles that move toward our autonomous navigation car in order to give alarm and keep away from them. Method of frame differencing is applied to find obstacles after compensation of camera's ego-motion. Meanwhile, each obstacle is separated from others in an independent area and given a confidence level to indicate whether it is coming closer. The results on an open dataset and our own autonomous navigation car have proved that the method is effective for detection of distant moving obstacles in real-time.

Clustering Millions of Faces by Identity.

PubMed

Otto, Charles; Wang, Dayong; Jain, Anil K

2018-02-01

Given a large collection of unlabeled face images, we address the problem of clustering faces into an unknown number of identities. This problem is of interest in social media, law enforcement, and other applications, where the number of faces can be of the order of hundreds of million, while the number of identities (clusters) can range from a few thousand to millions. To address the challenges of run-time complexity and cluster quality, we present an approximate Rank-Order clustering algorithm that performs better than popular clustering algorithms (k-Means and Spectral). Our experiments include clustering up to 123 million face images into over 10 million clusters. Clustering results are analyzed in terms of external (known face labels) and internal (unknown face labels) quality measures, and run-time. Our algorithm achieves an F-measure of 0.87 on the LFW benchmark (13 K faces of 5,749 individuals), which drops to 0.27 on the largest dataset considered (13 K faces in LFW + 123M distractor images). Additionally, we show that frames in the YouTube benchmark can be clustered with an F-measure of 0.71. An internal per-cluster quality measure is developed to rank individual clusters for manual exploration of high quality clusters that are compact and isolated.

Distant Mt. Fuji, Island of Honshu Japan

NASA Image and Video Library

1992-11-01

This distant view of Mt. Fuji, on the main home island of Honshu, Japan (34.0N, 139.0E) was taken from about 450 miles to the south. Evan at that great distance, the majestic and inspiring Mt. Fuji is still plainly visible and easily recognized as a world renowned symbol of Japan. The snow capped extinct volcano lies just a few miles south of Tokyo.

Hepatic Radiofrequency Ablation–induced Stimulation of Distant Tumor Growth Is Suppressed by c-Met Inhibition

PubMed Central

Kumar, Gaurav; Moussa, Marwan; Wang, Yuanguo; Rozenblum, Nir; Galun, Eithan; Goldberg, S. Nahum

2016-01-01

Purpose To elucidate how hepatic radiofrequency (RF) ablation affects distant extrahepatic tumor growth by means of two key molecular pathways. Materials and Methods Rats were used in this institutional animal care and use committee–approved study. First, the effect of hepatic RF ablation on distant subcutaneous in situ R3230 and MATBIII breast tumors was evaluated. Animals were randomly assigned to standardized RF ablation, sham procedure, or no treatment. Tumor growth rate was measured for 3½ to 7 days. Then, tissue was harvested for Ki-67 proliferative indexes and CD34 microvascular density. Second, hepatic RF ablation was performed for hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and c-Met receptor expression measurement in periablational rim, serum, and distant tumor 24 hours to 7 days after ablation. Third, hepatic RF ablation was combined with either a c-Met inhibitor (PHA-665752) or VEGF receptor inhibitor (semaxanib) and compared with sham or drug alone arms to assess distant tumor growth and growth factor levels. Finally, hepatic RF ablation was performed in rats with c-Met–negative R3230 tumors for comparison with the native c-Met–positive line. Tumor size and immunohistochemical quantification at day 0 and at sacrifice were compared with analysis of variance and the two-tailed Student t test. Tumor growth curves before and after treatment were analyzed with linear regression analysis to determine mean slopes of pre- and posttreatment growth curves on a per-tumor basis and were compared with analysis of variance and paired two-tailed t tests. Results After RF ablation of normal liver, distant R3230 tumors were substantially larger at 7 days compared with tumors treated with the sham procedure and untreated tumors, with higher growth rates and tumor cell proliferation. Similar findings were observed in MATBIII tumors. Hepatic RF ablation predominantly increased periablational and serum HGF and downstream distant tumor

Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brodwin, Mark; MaDCoWS Collaboration

2018-06-01

The Massive and Distant Clusters of WISE Survey (MaDCoWS) is a comprehensive program to detect and characterize the most massive galaxy clusters in the Universe at z ~ 1, and is the only all-sky survey sensitive to galaxy clusters at this epoch. The foundation for this program is data from the NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). The primary goal is to study the evolution of massive galaxies in the most overdense environments at z > 1 when star formation and AGN activity may be peaking in these structures. Spitzer follow-up imaging of 2000 MaDCoWS clusters has allowed us to select the richest and/or most distant clusters for detailed study. To date we have spectroscopically confirmed over 35 MaDCoWS clusters, spanning a wide range of masses (2-11 x 10^14 Msun), out to z = 1.5. This includes the discovery of the most massive z > 1.15 cluster found to date, as well as a cluster at z = 1.23 that is lensing a z = 2.22 supernova Ia. Multiwavelength follow-up observations of these distant clusters, currently underway, will permit several novel studies of galaxy evolution in rich cluster environments at z > 1.

Local therapy to distant metastatic sites in stage IV rhabdomyosarcoma.

PubMed

Mohan, Arvind C; Venkatramani, Rajkumar; Okcu, M Fatih; Nuchtern, Jed G; Vasudevan, Sanjeev A; Mahajan, Anita; Rainusso, Nino C; Allen-Rhoades, Wendy; Chintagumpala, Murali; Paulino, Arnold C

2018-02-01

To determine the impact of surgery and/or radiation therapy on distant metastatic sites (DMS) in children with stage IV rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). A retrospective chart review was conducted on all patients with stage IV RMS at Texas Children's Hospital from 1992 to 2012. Data analyzed included age, gender, primary site, histologic subtype, number and sites of metastases, treatment including local therapy to DMS, and Oberlin score. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 20% and 25%. The 5-year PFS in patients receiving local therapy to all DMS (n = 16) and to less than all DMS (n = 19) was 31.3% versus 0% (P = 0.002), whereas the 5-year OS was 37.3% versus 0% (P < 0.001), respectively. The 5-year PFS in patients with isolated lung metastasis versus other types of metastasis was 29% versus 7% (P = n.s.), whereas the 5-year OS was 43% versus 10% (P = 0.01). The 5-year pulmonary local control was improved by the use of whole lung irradiation (WLI; 56% vs. 10%, P = 0.03). Local treatment to all metastatic sites was associated with improved PFS and OS at 5 years. The use of WLI improved pulmonary control in patients with lung metastasis. We recommend an aggressive approach including local therapy to DMS in children with stage IV RMS. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Philanthro-metrics: Mining multi-million-dollar gifts

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

The Million Dollar List (MDL, online at http://www.milliondollarlist.org) is a compilation of publicly announced charitable donations of $1 million or more from across the United States since 2000; as of December 2016, the database contains close to 80,000 gifts made by U.S. individuals, corporations, foundations, and other grant-making nonprofit organizations. This paper discusses the unique value of the Million Dollar List and provides unique insights to key questions such as: How does distance affect giving? How do networks impact million-dollar-plus gifts? Understanding the geospatial and temporal dimensions of philanthropy can assist researchers and policymakers to better understand the role of private funding in innovation and discovery. Moreover, the results from the paper emphasize the importance of philanthropy for fueling research and development in science, the arts, environment, and health. The paper also includes the limitations of the presented analyses and promising future work. PMID:28552937

Can Platelet and Leukocyte Indicators Give Us an Idea about Distant Metastasis in Nasopharyngeal Cancer?

PubMed

Arıcıgil, Mitat; Dündar, Mehmet Akif; Yücel, Abitter; Arbağ, Hamdi; Aziz, Suhayb Kuria

This study aimes to evaluate platelet and leucocyte indicators, such as the mean platelet volume, platelet distribution width, plateletcrit, white blood cell count, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in nasopharyngeal cancer patients and also to evaluate the relationship between these indicators and nasopharyngeal cancer with distant metastasis. The medical records of 118 patients diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer in our hospital between January 2006 and August 2015 were reviewed. The nasopharyngeal cancer group was further sub grouped according to the presence or absence of distant metastasis and TNM (tumour - T, node - N, metastasis - M) classification. A control group consisted of 120 healthy patients. The platelet and leucocyte values at the time of the initial diagnosis were recorded. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and platelet distribution width values were significantly higher in the nasopharyngeal cancer group. But only platelet distribution width values were significantly higher in the nasopharyngeal cancer group with distant metastasis compared to the nasopharyngeal cancer group without distant metastasis. Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and platelet distribution width values may increase in nasopharyngeal cancer. But only the platelet distribution width values may give us an idea about the distant metastasis in nasopharyngeal cancer.

Making 3D movies of Northern Lights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hivon, Eric; Mouette, Jean; Legault, Thierry

2017-10-01

We describe the steps necessary to create three-dimensional (3D) movies of Northern Lights or Aurorae Borealis out of real-time images taken with two distant high-resolution fish-eye cameras. Astrometric reconstruction of the visible stars is used to model the optical mapping of each camera and correct for it in order to properly align the two sets of images. Examples of the resulting movies can be seen at http://www.iap.fr/aurora3d

Development of Distant Learning Laboratory and Creation of Educational Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Considine, Michelle

1995-01-01

The Office of Education's fundamental goal is to disseminate information, mostly that which relates to science and technology. In this attempt, as I have observed, the office has many programs bringing both students and teachers to NASA Langley to expose them to the facilities and to teach them some about the scientific theory and about available modern technology. As a way of expanding the audience that can be reached, as the expense of bringing people in is limiting, Marchelle Canright has proposed establishing a center dedicated to researching and producing distant learning videos. Although distant learning through telecommunications is not a new concept, as many universities, colleges, and precollege level schools offer televised courses, the research in this field has been limited. Many of the standing distant learning broadcasts are simply recordings of teachers in classrooms giving lectures to their own students; they are not aimed at the television audience. In some cases the videos are produced without a Live-lecture atmosphere, but are still only classroom lectures. In either case, however, the full range of capabilities of video production are not being fully utilized. Methods for best relaying educational material have not been explored. Possibilities for including computerized images and video clips for the purpose of showing diagrams and processes, as well as examples in fitting cases, may add considerably to the educational value of these videos. Also, through Internet and satellite links, it is possible for remote students to interact with the teachers during televised sessions. These possibilities might, also, add to the effectiveness of distant learning programs. Ms. Canright's proposed center will be dedicated to researching these possibilities and eventually spreading the results to distant learning program managers. This is the project I was involved in over the summer. As implied, the center is still at the foundation stages. Ms. Canright has

Photographer : JPL Range : 4.2 million kilometers (2.6 million miles) Ganymede is Jupiter's Largest

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 4.2 million kilometers (2.6 million miles) Ganymede is Jupiter's Largest Galilean satellites and 3rd from the planet. Photo taken after midnight Ganymede is slightly larger than Mercury but much less dense (twice the density of water). Its surface brightness is 4 times of Earth's Moon. Mare regions (dark features) are like the Moon's but have twice the brightness, and believed to be unlikely of rock or lava as the Moon's are. It's north pole seems covered with brighter material and may be water frost. Scattered brighter spots may be related to impact craters or source of fresh ice.

Ancient ecology of 15-million-year-old browsing mammals within C3 plant communities from Panama.

PubMed

MacFadden, Bruce J; Higgins, Pennilyn

2004-06-01

Middle Miocene mammals are known from approximately 15 million-year-old sediments exposed along the Panama Canal of Central America, a region that otherwise has an exceedingly poor terrestrial fossil record. These land mammals, which represent a part of the ancient terrestrial herbivore community, include an oreodont Merycochoerus matthewi, small camel-like protoceratid artiodactyl Paratoceras wardi, two horses Anchitherium clarencei and Archaeohippus sp., and two rhinos Menoceras barbouri and Floridaceras whitei. Bulk and serial carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of the tooth enamel carbonate allow reconstruction of the ancient climate and ecology of these fossil mammals. Ancient Panama had an equable climate with seasonal temperature and rainfall fluctuations less than those seen today. The middle Miocene terrestrial community consisted predominantly, or exclusively, of C3 plants, i.e., there is no evidence for C4 grasses. Statistically different mean carbon isotope values for the mammalian herbivores indicate niche partitioning of the C3 plant food resources. The range of individual carbon isotope analyses, i.e., delta13C from -15.9 to -10.1 per thousand, indicates herbivores feeding on diverse plants from different habitats with extrapolated delta13C values of -29.9 to -24.2 per thousand, possibly ranging from dense forest to more open country woodland. The ecological niches of individual mammalian herbivore species were differentiated either by diet or body size.

Faint Compact Galaxy in the Early Universe

NASA Image and Video Library

2015-12-03

This is a Hubble Space Telescope view of a very massive cluster of galaxies, MACS J0416.1-2403, located roughly 4 billion light-years away and weighing as much as a million billion suns. The cluster's immense gravitational field magnifies the image of galaxies far behind it, in a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. The inset is an image of an extremely faint and distant galaxy that existed only 400 million years after the big bang. It was discovered by Hubble and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The gravitational lens makes the galaxy appear 20 times brighter than normal. The galaxy is comparable in size to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a diminutive satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. It is rapidly making stars at a rate ten times faster than the LMC. This might be the growing core of what was to eventually evolve into a full-sized galaxy. The research team has nicknamed the object Tayna, which means "first-born" in Aymara, a language spoken in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20054

Galaxy Cluster Abell 1689

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

Release Date: March 10, 2010 - Distant galaxy clusters mysteriously stream at a million miles per hour along a path roughly centered on the southern constellations Centaurus and Hydra. A new study led by Alexander Kashlinsky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., tracks this collective motion -- dubbed the "dark flow" -- to twice the distance originally reported, out to more than 2.5 billion light-years. Abell 1689, redshift 0.181. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Scientific Visualization Studio/ESA/L. Bradley/JHU To learn more go to: www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-023.html To see other visualizations related to this story go to: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10580

Is the Climatic Impact of Solar Luminosity Change Fortuitously Balanced by Paleogeographic Change over the last 300 million years?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lunt, D. J.; Farnsworth, A.; Bragg, F.

2016-12-01

The climate of the Earth is ultimately controlled by tectonic and solar forcings, with the occasional meteorite thrown in for good measure. A third forcing of greenhouse gases can also be considered if the carbon cycle is considered as external to the system. In this case, the tectonic forcing reduces to a paleogeographic forcing (through changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation related to changes in mountain height/position and gateway/bathymetry changes). There is no reason to expect any link between this paleogeographic forcing and the solar forcing. However, as we show here, a suite of climate model simulations through the last 300 million years show remarkably constant global mean temperature under constant greenhouse gas forcing, despite a varying solar luminosity. We attribute this to a fortuitous balancing of the solar forcing with paleogeographic forcing, related to the continental breakup of Pangea. This provides an alternative hypothesis to the existing paradigm in which solar luminosity is balanced by greenhouse gas forcing through weathering-related feedbacks.

Photographer : JPL Range : 5.9 million kilometers (3.66 million miles) Europa is Jupiter's 2nd

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 5.9 million kilometers (3.66 million miles) Europa is Jupiter's 2nd Galilean satellite from the planet. Photo taken early morning and through a violet filter. Faint swirls and Linear Patterns show in the equarorial region(which is darker than the poles). The hemisphere shown always faces Jupiter. North is up. Europa is the brightest of the Galilian satellites but shows low contrast on this hemisphere. Density and size is similar to Earth's Moon. Indications of water ice or ground water on surface is shown

The "Golden Shale": An indicator of coastal stability for Marble Point, McMurdo Sound, over the last four million years

USGS Publications Warehouse

Claridge, G.G.C.; Campbell, I.B.

2007-01-01

A small sedimentary deposit near Gneiss Point on the western side of McMurdo Sound, previously identified as shale, is described. The deposit is phillipsite, a zeolite that is believed to have formed from the deposition and alteration of volcanic ash in a small ice-marginal saline lake. Other previously recorded occurrences of phillipsite in the dry valleys are believed to be several million years old. A similar age for this deposit is suggested for the Gneiss Point deposit. This is consistent with other weathering and landscape features found in the immediate area, including traces of halloysite in soils. The deposit is very close to sea level but could not have formed if the site had been below sea level, indicating that there has been very little uplift following that which caused the sea to retreat from the Wright Fiord.

1. Distant view, showing bridge in context with agricultural (pastures ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. Distant view, showing bridge in context with agricultural (pastures and cornfields) setting; looking southeast. - Eureka Bridge, Spanning Yellow River (Moved to City Park, Castalia), Frankville, Winneshiek County, IA

Cryptic Distant Relatives Are Common in Both Isolated and Cosmopolitan Genetic Samples

PubMed Central

Macpherson, J. Michael; Eriksson, Nick; Saxonov, Serge; Pe'er, Itsik; Mountain, Joanna L.

2012-01-01

Although a few hundred single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) suffice to infer close familial relationships, high density genome-wide SNP data make possible the inference of more distant relationships such as 2nd to 9th cousinships. In order to characterize the relationship between genetic similarity and degree of kinship given a timeframe of 100–300 years, we analyzed the sharing of DNA inferred to be identical by descent (IBD) in a subset of individuals from the 23andMe customer database (n = 22,757) and from the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP-CEPH, n = 952). With data from 121 populations, we show that the average amount of DNA shared IBD in most ethnolinguistically-defined populations, for example Native American groups, Finns and Ashkenazi Jews, differs from continentally-defined populations by several orders of magnitude. Via extensive pedigree-based simulations, we determined bounds for predicted degrees of relationship given the amount of genomic IBD sharing in both endogamous and ‘unrelated’ population samples. Using these bounds as a guide, we detected tens of thousands of 2nd to 9th degree cousin pairs within a heterogenous set of 5,000 Europeans. The ubiquity of distant relatives, detected via IBD segments, in both ethnolinguistic populations and in large ‘unrelated’ populations samples has important implications for genetic genealogy, forensics and genotype/phenotype mapping studies. PMID:22509285

Late Eocene to middle Miocene (33 to 13 million years ago) vegetation and climate development on the North American Atlantic Coastal Plain (IODP Expedition 313, Site M0027)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kotthoff, U.; Greenwood, D. R.; McCarthy, F. M. G.; Müller-Navarra, K.; Prader, S.; Hesselbo, S. P.

2014-08-01

We investigated the palynology of sediment cores from Site M0027 of IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) Expedition 313 on the New Jersey shallow shelf to examine vegetation and climate dynamics on the east coast of North America between 33 and 13 million years ago and to assess the impact of over-regional climate events on the region. Palynological results are complemented with pollen-based quantitative climate reconstructions. Our results indicate that the hinterland vegetation of the New Jersey shelf was characterized by oak-hickory forests in the lowlands and conifer-dominated vegetation in the highlands from the early Oligocene to the middle Miocene. The Oligocene witnessed several expansions of conifer forest, probably related to cooling events. The pollen-based climate data imply an increase in annual temperatures from ∼11.5 °C to more than 16 °C during the Oligocene. The Mi-1 cooling event at the onset of the Miocene is reflected by an expansion of conifers and mean annual temperature decrease of ∼4 °C, from ∼16 °C to ∼12 °C around 23 million years before present. Relatively low annual temperatures are also recorded for several samples during an interval around ∼20 million years before present, which may reflect the Mi-1a and the Mi-1aa cooling events. Generally, the Miocene ecosystem and climate conditions were very similar to those of the Oligocene. Miocene grasslands, as known from other areas in the USA during that time period, are not evident for the hinterland of the New Jersey shelf, possibly reflecting moisture from the proto-Gulf Stream. The palaeovegetation data reveal stable conditions during the mid-Miocene climatic optimum at ∼15 million years before present, with only a minor increase in deciduous-evergreen mixed forest taxa and a decrease in swamp forest taxa. Pollen-based annual temperature reconstructions show average annual temperatures of ∼14 °C during the mid-Miocene climatic optimum, ∼2 �

Small bowel obstruction from distant metastasis of primary breast cancer: a case report.

PubMed

Oh, Seung Jae; Park, Seon Young; Kim, Ji Young; Yim, Hyunee; Jung, Yongsik; Han, Sae Hwan

2018-02-01

Gastrointestinal (GI) tract metastasis of primary breast cancer is very rare. We present a patient with small bowel obstruction from distant metastasis of primary breast cancer. Each characteristic features of concern of GI tract distant metastasis from many pervious studies has been reported differently. We should remember that GI tract metastasis may coexist when patients with breast cancer have intermittent or recurrent abdominal pain with or without obstructive symptoms.

One-step resonant controlled-phase gate on distant transmon qutrits in different 1D superconducting resonators

PubMed Central

Hua, Ming; Tao, Ming-Jie; Deng, Fu-Guo; Lu Long, Gui

2015-01-01

We propose a scheme to construct the controlled-phase (c-phase) gate on distant transmon qutrits hosted in different resonators inter-coupled by a connected transmon qutrit. Different from previous works for entanglement generation and information transfer on two distant qubits in a dispersive regime in the similar systems, our gate is constructed in the resonant regime with one step. The numerical simulation shows that the fidelity of our c-phase gate is 99.5% within 86.3 ns. As an interesting application of our c-phase gate, we propose an effective scheme to complete a conventional square lattice of two-dimensional surface code layout for fault-tolerant quantum computing on the distant transmon qutrits. The four-step coupling between the nearest distant transmon qutrits, small coupling strengths of the distant transmon qutrits, and the non-population on the connection transmon qutrit can reduce the interactions among different parts of the layout effectively, which makes the layout be integrated with a large scale in an easier way. PMID:26486426

Finding Distant Galactic HII Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, L. D.; Armentrout, W. P.; Johnstone, B. M.; Bania, T. M.; Balser, Dana S.; Wenger, Trey V.; Cunningham, V.

2015-12-01

The WISE Catalog of Galactic H ii Regions contains ˜2000 H ii region candidates lacking ionized gas spectroscopic observations. All candidates have the characteristic H ii region mid-infrared morphology of WISE 12 μ {{m}} emission surrounding 22 μ {{m}} emission, and additionally have detected radio continuum emission. We here report Green Bank Telescope hydrogen radio recombination line and radio continuum detections in the X-band (9 GHz; 3 cm) of 302 WISE H ii region candidates (out of 324 targets observed) in the zone 225^\\circ ≥slant {\\ell }≥slant -20^\\circ , | {\\text{}}b| ≤slant 6^\\circ . Here we extend the sky coverage of our H ii region Discovery Survey, which now contains nearly 800 H ii regions distributed across the entire northern sky. We provide LSR velocities for the 302 detections and kinematic distances for 131 of these. Of the 302 new detections, 5 have ({\\ell },{\\text{}}b,v) coordinates consistent with the Outer Scutum-Centaurus Arm (OSC), the most distant molecular spiral arm of the Milky Way. Due to the Galactic warp, these nebulae are found at Galactic latitudes >1° in the first Galactic quadrant, and therefore were missed in previous surveys of the Galactic plane. One additional region has a longitude and velocity consistent with the OSC but lies at a negative Galactic latitude (G039.183-01.422 -54.9 {km} {{{s}}}-1). With Heliocentric distances >22 kpc and Galactocentric distances >16 kpc, the OSC H ii regions are the most distant known in the Galaxy. We detect an additional three H ii regions near {\\ell }≃ 150^\\circ whose LSR velocities place them at Galactocentric radii >19 kpc. If their distances are correct, these nebulae may represent the limit to Galactic massive star formation.

The case for Ofsmoke: the potential for price cap regulation of tobacco to raise £500 million per year in the UK.

PubMed

Branston, J Robert; Gilmore, Anna B

2014-01-01

A system of price-cap regulation has previously been suggested to address the market failure inherent to the tobacco industry. This would benefit public health directly (eg, by making it extremely difficult for the industry to sell cut-price cigarettes, or use price as a marketing strategy) and indirectly (eg, by reducing the available money the industry has for spending on marketing and lobbying). This paper explores the feasibility of applying such a scheme in the UK. The impact of price-capping is modelled using optimistic and conservative scenarios, each with different assumptions, and using 2009 and 2010 profit data for the major companies selling tobacco in the UK. The models are used to calculate by how much would profit be reduced through the imposition of price caps, and thus, how much revenue could be raised in additional taxes, assuming the end price the consumer pays does not change. Tobacco companies enjoy massive profit margins, up to 67%, in the UK. The optimistic scenario suggests a potential increase in UK tobacco tax revenue of £585.7 million in 2010 (£548.4 million in 2009), while the conservative model suggests an increase in revenue of £433.6 million in 2010 (£399.2 million in 2009). This would be approximately enough to fund, twice over, UK-wide antitobacco smuggling measures, and smoking cessation services in England, including the associated pharmacotherapies, to help people stop smoking. Applying a system of price-cap regulation in the UK would raise around £500 million per annum (US$750 million). This is likely to be an underestimate because of cautious assumptions used in the model. These significant financial benefits, in addition to the public health benefits that would be generated, suggest this is a policy that should be given serious consideration.

Solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and the distant magnetotail: ISEE-3 observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slavin, J. A.; Smith, E. J.; Sibeck, D. G.; Baker, D. N.; Zwickl, R. D.; Akasofu, S. I.; Lepping, R. P.

1985-01-01

ISEE-3 Geotail observations are used to investigate the relationship between the interplanetary magnetic field, substorm activity, and the distant magnetotail. Magnetic field and plasma observations are used to present evidence for the existence of a quasi-permanent, curved reconnection neutral line in the distant tail. The distance to the neutral line varies from absolute value of X = 120 to 140 R/sub e near the center of the tail to beyond absolute value of X = 200 R/sub e at the flanks. Downstream of the neutral line the plasma sheet magnetic field is shown to be negative and directly proportional to negative B/sub z in the solar wind as observed by IMP-8. V/sub x in the distant plasma sheet is also found to be proportional to IMF B/sub z with southward IMF producing the highest anti-solar flow velocities. A global dayside reconnection efficiency of 20 +- 5% is derived from the ISEE-3/IMP-8 magnetic field comparisons. Substorm activity, as measured by the AL index, produces enhanced negative B/sub z and tailward V/sub x in the distant plasma sheet in agreement with the basic predictions of the reconnection-based models of substorms. The rate of magnetic flux transfer out of the tail as a function of AL is found to be consistent with previous near-Earth studies. Similarly, the mass and energy fluxes carried by plasma sheet flow down the tail are consistent with theoretical mass and energy budgets for an open magnetosphere. In summary, the ISEE-3 Geotail observations appear to provide good support for reconnection models of solar wind-magnetosphere coupling and substorm energy rates.

Analysis of 13 million individual patient records pertaining to Pap smears, colposcopies, biopsies and surgery on the uterine cervix (Belgium, 1996-2000).

PubMed

Arbyn, Marc; Simoens, Cindy; Van Oyen, Herman; Foidart, Jean-Michel; Goffin, Frédéric; Simon, Philippe; Fabri, Valérie

2009-05-01

Cervical cancer screening by surveys overestimate coverage because of selection and reporting biases. The prepared Inter-Mutualistic Agency dataset has about 13 million records from Pap smears, colposcopies, cervical biopsies and surgery, performed in Belgium between 1996 and 2000. Cervical cancer screening coverage was defined as the proportion of the target population (women of 25-64 years) that has had a Pap smear taken within the last 3 years. Proportions and incidence rates were computed using official population data of the corresponding age group, area and calendar year. Cervical cancer screening coverage, in the period 1998-2000, was 59% at national level, for the target age group 25-64 years. Differences were small between the 3 regions. Variation ranged from 39% to 71%. Coverage was 64% for 25-29 year old women, 67% for those aged 30-39 years, 56% for those aged 50-54. The modal screening interval was 1 year. In the 3-year period 1998-2000, 3 million smears were taken from the 2.7 million women in the age group 25-64. Only 1.6 million women of the target group got one or more smears in that period and 1.1 million women had no smears, corresponding to an average of 1.88 smears per woman. Coverage reached only 59%, but the number of smears used was sufficient to cover more than 100% of the target population. Structural reduction of overuse and extension of coverage is warranted.

11. View to southeast. More distant overview of bridge in ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

11. View to southeast. More distant overview of bridge in setting; downstream side. (135mm lens) - South Fork Trinity River Bridge, State Highway 299 spanning South Fork Trinity River, Salyer, Trinity County, CA

Photographer: JPL P-21741 BW Range: 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) This picture of Io,

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer: JPL P-21741 BW Range: 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) This picture of Io, taken by Voyager 1, shows the region of the Jovian moon which will be monitored for volcanic eruptions by Voyager 2 during the 'Io movie' sequence. The white and orange patches probably are deposits of sulphur compounds and other volcanic materials. The Voyager 2 pictures of this region will be much more detailed.

Photographer: JPL P-21741 C Range: 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) This picture of Io,

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer: JPL P-21741 C Range: 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) This picture of Io, taken by Voyager 1, shows the region of the Jovian moon which will be monitored for volcanic eruptions by Voyager 2 during the 'Io movie' sequence. The white and orange patches probably are deposits of sulphur compounds and other volcanic materials. The Voyager 2 pictures of this region will be much more detailed.

Violent crime runs in families: a total population study of 12.5 million individuals.

PubMed

Frisell, T; Lichtenstein, P; Långström, N

2011-01-01

Etiological theory and prior research with small or selected samples suggest that interpersonal violence clusters in families. However, the strength and pattern of this aggregation remains mostly unknown. We investigated all convictions for violent crime in Sweden 1973-2004 among more than 12.5 million individuals in the nationwide Multi-Generation Register, and compared rates of violent convictions among relatives of violent individuals with relatives of matched, non-violent controls, using a nested case-control design. We found strong familial aggregation of interpersonal violence among first-degree relatives [e.g. odds ratio (OR)sibling 4.3, 95% confidence interval (CI) 4.2-4.3], lower for more distant relatives (e.g. OR cousin 1.9, 95% CI 1.9-1.9). Risk patterns across biological and adoptive relations provided evidence for both genetic and environmental influences on the development of violent behavior. Familial risks were stronger among women, in higher socio-economic strata, and for early onset interpersonal violence. There were crime-specific effects (e.g. OR sibling for arson 22.4, 95% CI 12.2-41.2), suggesting both general and subtype-specific familial risk factors for violent behavior. The observed familiality should be accounted for in criminological research, applied violence risk assessment, and prevention efforts.

Payday for payers. Compensation of the top execs at investor-owned insurers outpaced that of the leaders at hospitals and specialty care.

PubMed

Kutscher, Beth; Barr, Paul; Zigmond, Jessica

2012-08-13

Top executives at investor-owned hospital chains saw their compensation packages take a hit last year, amid the debt-ceiling crisis and concerns over how it might affect Medicare. Wayne Smith at Community Health Systems led the pack in that sector, with a $21 million payday, while Trevor Fetter, left, of Tenet, came in a distant second with $10.7 million.

Dose Reconstruction for the Million Worker Study: Status and Guidelines

DOE PAGES

Bouville, André; Toohey, Richard E.; Boice, John D.; ...

2015-02-01

The primary aim of the epidemiologic study of one million U.S. radiation workers and veterans (the Million-Worker study) is to provide scientifically valid information on the level of radiation risk when exposures are received gradually over time, and not acutely as was the case for Japanese atomic bomb survivors. The primary outcome of the epidemiological study is cancer mortality but other causes of death such as cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease will be evaluated. The success of the study is tied to the validity of the dose reconstruction approaches to provide unbiased estimates of organ-specific radiation absorbed doses and theirmore » accompanying uncertainties. The dosimetry aspects for the Million-Worker study are challenging in that they address diverse exposure scenarios for diverse occupational groups being studied over a period of up to 70 years. The dosimetric issues differ among the varied exposed populations that are considered: atomic veterans, DOE workers exposed to both penetrating radiation and intakes of radionuclides, nuclear power plant workers, medical radiation workers, and industrial radiographers. While a major source of radiation exposure to the study population comes from external gamma-ray or x-ray sources, for certain of the study groups there is a meaningful component of radionuclide intakes that require internal radiation dosimetry measures. Scientific Committee 6-9 has been established by NCRP to produce a report on the comprehensive organ dose assessment (including uncertainty analysis) for the Million-Worker study. The Committee’s report will cover the specifics of practical dose reconstruction for the ongoing epidemiologic studies with uncertainty analysis discussions and will be a specific application of the guidance provided in NCRP Reports 158, 163, 164, and 171. The main role of the Committee is to provide guidelines to the various groups of dosimetrists involved in the various components of the Million

Dose Reconstruction for the Million Worker Study: Status and Guidelines

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bouville, André; Toohey, Richard E.; Boice, John D.

The primary aim of the epidemiologic study of one million U.S. radiation workers and veterans (the Million-Worker study) is to provide scientifically valid information on the level of radiation risk when exposures are received gradually over time, and not acutely as was the case for Japanese atomic bomb survivors. The primary outcome of the epidemiological study is cancer mortality but other causes of death such as cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease will be evaluated. The success of the study is tied to the validity of the dose reconstruction approaches to provide unbiased estimates of organ-specific radiation absorbed doses and theirmore » accompanying uncertainties. The dosimetry aspects for the Million-Worker study are challenging in that they address diverse exposure scenarios for diverse occupational groups being studied over a period of up to 70 years. The dosimetric issues differ among the varied exposed populations that are considered: atomic veterans, DOE workers exposed to both penetrating radiation and intakes of radionuclides, nuclear power plant workers, medical radiation workers, and industrial radiographers. While a major source of radiation exposure to the study population comes from external gamma-ray or x-ray sources, for certain of the study groups there is a meaningful component of radionuclide intakes that require internal radiation dosimetry measures. Scientific Committee 6-9 has been established by NCRP to produce a report on the comprehensive organ dose assessment (including uncertainty analysis) for the Million-Worker study. The Committee’s report will cover the specifics of practical dose reconstruction for the ongoing epidemiologic studies with uncertainty analysis discussions and will be a specific application of the guidance provided in NCRP Reports 158, 163, 164, and 171. The main role of the Committee is to provide guidelines to the various groups of dosimetrists involved in the various components of the Million

DISTANT VIEW OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES CATHEDRAL, LOOKING NORTH ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

DISTANT VIEW OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES CATHEDRAL, LOOKING NORTH ALONG MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. WAY FROM 14TH STREET - St. Francis de Sales Church, 2100 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Oakland, Alameda County, CA

Effects of Light Regimes on the Biomass and Morphological Characteristics of 2-Year-Old Cherrybark Oak Seedlings

Treesearch

Yanfei Guo; Michael G. Shelton

2004-01-01

We used modified shadehouses to simulate the complex light conditions within forest openings and tested the effects of time of direct light exposure, the ratio of direct light to day length, and daily photosynthetically active radiation on aboveground biomass and morphological characteristics of 2-year-old cherrybark oak (Quercus pagoda Raf.)...

"Intermetamorphic" developmental stages in 150 million-year-old achelatan lobsters--The case of the species tenera Oppel, 1862.

PubMed

Haug, Joachim T; Haug, Carolin

2016-03-01

We re-investigated the fossil species tenera Oppel, 1862, an achelatan lobster (traditionally named Palinurina tenera) found in 150 million years old limestones of southern Germany. All known specimens attributed to this species show a mixture of characters, which in modern forms occur either in larvae or post-larval juveniles. Hence these specimens provide insight into a phase in ontogeny that is no longer present in the developmental sequence of any modern achelatan lobster, as the latter ones skip this phase and replace it by a drastic metamorphosis. Comparable cases have been described earlier, yet did only comprise single stages or two successive ones at most. In the here described case four developmental stages are preserved. The reconstructed ontogeny of tenera therefore represents the currently best known sequence of an early achelatan lobster that covers this specific intermediate phase. The largest known stage most likely still represents an immature of a yet undiscovered adult. These findings support the interpretation that early achelatan lobsters developed in a more gradual ontogenetic sequence than modern forms. It furthermore demonstrates that it was even more gradual than anticipated previously. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evidence of orbital forcing in 510 to 530 million year old shallow marine cycles, Utah and western Canada

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bond, Gerard C.; Beavan, John; Kominz, Michelle A.; Devlin, William

1992-01-01

Spectral analyses of two sequences of shallow marine sedimentary cycles that were deposited between 510 and 530 million years ago were completed. One sequence is from Middle Cambrian rocks in southern Utah and the other is from Upper Cambrian rocks in the southern Canadian Rockies. In spite of the antiquity of these strata, and even though there are differences in the age, location, and cycle facies between the two sequences, both records have distinct spectral peaks with surprisingly similar periodicities. A null model constructed to test for significance of the spectral peaks and circulatory in the methodology indicates that all but one of the spectral peaks are significant at the 90 percent confidence level. When the ratios between the statistically significant peaks are measured, we find a consistent relation to orbital forcing; specifically, the spectral peak ratios in both the Utah and Canadian examples imply that a significant amount of the variance in the cyclic records is driven by the short eccentricity (approximately 109 ky) and by the precessional (approximately 21 ky) components of the Earth's orbital variations. Neither section contains a significant component of variance at the period of the obliquity cycle, however.

Relative role of astronomical forcings and the atmospheric carbon dioxide during the glacial cycles of the last 1.5 million years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abe-Ouchi, A.; Saito, F.; Chan, W. L.; Kino, K.; Watanabe, Y.; Oishi, R.

2017-12-01

Climate change with wax and wane of large Northern Hemisphere ice sheet occurred in the past 800 thousand years characterized by about 100 thousand year cycle with a large amplitude of sawtooth pattern, following a transition from a period of 40 thousand years cycle with small amplitude of ice sheet change at about 1 million years ago. Although the importance of insolation as the ultimate driver is now appreciated, the mechanism what determines the timing and strength of ice age termination as well as the amplitude of glacial cycles are far from clearly understood. Here we simulate the glacial cycles of the last 1.5 Ma and investigate the origin of 100ka periodicity and the role of astronomical forcing and atmospheric carbon dioxide content using a three dimensional ice sheet model with the input examined by the MIROC 4m GCM. The model is forced by astronomical parameters (Berger, 1978) and atmospheric CO2 change obtained from ice cores (Vostok, EPICA and DomeF), where available. Ice age cycles with a saw-tooth shape 100 ka periodicity are simulated at low CO2 levels, with the major NH ice sheet volume as well as geographical distribution and timing of interglacials successfully simulated. The model shows the interglacials at the right timings even under constant CO2 levels, with few exceptions, e.g. MIS11 around 400 thousand years ago (400 kyr BP). Through sensitivity experiments we examine individual factors determining the glacial termination, such as constant and variable CO2 levels, obliquity, precession and eccentricity.

76 FR 31351 - Safety Requirements and Manning Exemption Eligibility on Distant Water Tuna Fleet Vessels

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-31

...The Coast Guard announces the availability of Office of Vessel Activities Policy Letter 11-05 regarding Distant Water Tuna Fleet vessels manning exemption eligibility and safety requirements. This final policy clarifies the requirements to allow a distant water tuna fleet vessel to engage foreign citizens under a temporary manning exemption.

76 FR 3646 - Safety Requirements and Manning Exemption Eligibility on Distant Water Tuna Fleet Vessels

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-20

...Pursuant to Section 904 of the 2010 Coast Guard Authorization Act, the Coast Guard announces the availability of a draft policy regarding distant water tuna fleet vessels manning exemption eligibility and safety requirements. We request your comments on the Safety Requirements and Manning Exemption Eligibility on Distant Water Tuna Fleet Vessels.

Mega starbirth cluster is biggest, brightest and hottest ever seen

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2003-10-01

Artist’s impression of the Lynx Arc hi-res Size hi-res: 4519 kb Credits: European Space Agency, NASA and Robert A.E. Fosbury (European Space Agency/Space Telescope-European Coordinating Facility, Germany) Artist’s impression of the Lynx Arc This illustration shows an artist’s impression of the so-called Lynx arc, a newly identified distant super-cluster that contains a million blue-white stars twice as hot as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy. The Lynx arc is one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, a nearby prototypical ‘starbirth’ region visible with small telescopes. The stars in the Lynx arc are more than twice as hot as the Orion Nebula’s central stars, with surface temperatures up to 80 000°C. Though there are much bigger and brighter star-forming regions than the Orion Nebula in our local Universe, none are as bright as the Lynx arc, nor do they contain such large numbers of hot stars. The stars are so hot that a very large fraction of their light is emitted in the ultraviolet that makes the gas glow with the green and red colours illustrated here. The so-called Lynx Arc is one million times brighter than the well-known Orion Nebula, a nearby prototypical 'starbirth' region visible with small telescopes. The newly identified super-cluster contains a million blue-white stars that are twice as hot as similar stars in our Milky Way galaxy. It is a rarely glimpsed example of the early days of the Universe where furious firestorms of starbirth blazed across the skies. The spectacular cluster's opulence is dimmed when seen from Earth only by the fact that it is 12 000 million light years away. The discovery of this unique and tantalising object was the result of a systematic study of distant clusters of galaxies carried out with major X-ray, optical and infrared telescopes, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, ROSAT and the Keck Telescopes. Bob Fosbury, of the European Space Agency's Space Telescope

Photographer : JPL Range : 4.2 million km. ( 2.6 million miles ) Jupiter's moon Europa, the size of

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 4.2 million km. ( 2.6 million miles ) Jupiter's moon Europa, the size of earth's moon, is apparently covered by water ice, as indicated by ground spectrometers and its brightness. In this view, global scale dark sreaks discovered by Voyager 1 that criss-cross the the satelite are becoming visible. Bright rayed impact craters, which are abundant on Ganymede and Callisto, would be easily visible at this range, suggesting that Europa's surface is young and that the streaks are reflections of currently active internal dynamic processes.

First light with ISO and its instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1995-12-01

. This galaxy is about 320 million light years away from us and has already been detected at shorter wavelengths by IRAS. The newly discovered far-infrared emission arises from cold dust (-250 degrees C) in the galaxies warmed up by recently born stars. The rate of star formation is thought to be increased by the close encounter between the two galaxies. Based on previous measurements, about 50 stars per year are estimated to be born in NGC6090. The new measurements have determined the luminosity much more precisely by including a so far invisible region. This will lead to an accurate calculation of the star formation rate and will give an insight into the secrets of "star bursts" seen in many external galaxies. ISOPHOT will be used in larger programmes to study interacting galaxies from the distant passage of objects via close encounters to finally merging galaxies (cosmic "cannibalism"). The Long-Wavelength Spectrometer made its first astronomical observation on 30 November. It measured the infrared spectrum of a region of dust, gas and newly-formed stars known as S106. Lines from Nitrogen, Carbon and Oxygen are clearly visible in the raw unprocessed spectrum. Intense ultraviolet light from the stars heats up the surrounding dust, which re-radiates this energy in the infrared. It also excites atoms in the gas, causing them to emit radiation at precise infrared wavelengths. Unlike visible light, these infrared rays can emerge from deep within the clouds. Measurements like these will allow astronomers to discover the composition, density and temperature of the material and help us to understand the complex processes by which stars and their planetary systems form. The LWS wavelength range, is completely inaccessible from the ground due to atmospheric absorption and, thus, the LWS provides a unique opportunity of studying star-formation. For the Short-Wavelength Spectrometer, first light was obtained on 1 December, during a measurement to determine the focal plane

1. Distant view of mill ruins with boom crane for ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. Distant view of mill ruins with boom crane for unloading sugar cane in foreground, looking W. - Laurel Valley Sugar Plantation, Sugar Mill, 2 miles South of Thibodaux on State Route 308, Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, LA

NGC 4945: The Milky Way's not-so-distant Cousin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2009-09-01

ESO has released a striking new image of a nearby galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way. Though the galaxy is seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest that this hive of stars is a spiral galaxy much like our own, with swirling, luminous arms and a bar-shaped central region. These resemblances aside, NGC 4945 has a brighter centre that likely harbours a supermassive black hole, which is devouring reams of matter and blasting energy out into space. As NGC 4945 is only about 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus (the Centaur), a modest telescope is sufficient for skygazers to spot this remarkable galaxy. NGC 4945's designation comes from its entry number in the New General Catalogue compiled by the Danish-Irish astronomer John Louis Emil Dreyer in the 1880s. James Dunlop, a Scottish astronomer, is credited with originally discovering NGC 4945 in 1826 from Australia. Today's new portrait of NGC 4945 comes courtesy of the Wide Field Imager (WFI) instrument at the 2.2-metre MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. NGC 4945 appears cigar-shaped from our perspective on Earth, but the galaxy is actually a disc many times wider than it is thick, with bands of stars and glowing gas spiralling around its centre. With the use of special optical filters to isolate the colour of light emitted by heated gases such as hydrogen, the image displays sharp contrasts in NGC 4945 that indicate areas of star formation. Other observations have revealed that NGC 4945 has an active galactic nucleus, meaning its central bulge emits far more energy than calmer galaxies like the Milky Way. Scientists classify NGC 4945 as a Seyfert galaxy after the American astronomer Carl K. Seyfert, who wrote a study in 1943 describing the odd light signatures emanating from some galactic cores. Since then, astronomers have come to suspect that supermassive black holes cause the turmoil in the centre of Seyfert galaxies. Black holes

HUBBLE VIEWS DISTANT GALAXIES THROUGH A COSMIC LENS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the rich galaxy cluster, Abell 2218, is a spectacular example of gravitational lensing. The arc-like pattern spread across the picture like a spider web is an illusion caused by the gravitational field of the cluster. The cluster is so massive and compact that light rays passing through it are deflected by its enormous gravitational field, much as an optical lens bends light to form an image. The process magnifies, brightens and distorts images of objects that lie far beyond the cluster. This provides a powerful 'zoom lens' for viewing galaxies that are so far away they could not normally be observed with the largest available telescopes. Hubble's high resolution reveals numerous arcs which are difficult to detect with ground-based telescopes because they appear to be so thin. The arcs are the distorted images of a very distant galaxy population extending 5-10 times farther than the lensing cluster. This population existed when the universe was just one quarter of its present age. The arcs provide a direct glimpse of how star forming regions are distributed in remote galaxies, and other clues to the early evoution of galaxies. Hubble also reveals multiple imaging, a rarer lensing event that happens when the distortion is large enough to produce more than one image of the same galaxy. Abell 2218 has an unprecedented total of seven multiple systems. The abundance of lensing features in Abell 2218 has been used to make a detailed map of the distribution of matter in the cluster's center. From this, distances can be calculated for a sample of 120 faint arclets found on the Hubble image. These arclets represent galaxies that are 50 times fainter than objects that can be seen with ground-based telescopes. Studies of remote galaxies viewed through well-studied lenses like Abell 2218 promise to reveal the nature of normal galaxies at much earlier epochs than was previously possible. The technique is a powerful combination of Hubble

Experiment Determination of the Velocity of Light

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-03-28

and raised so that the line along which the light traveled was about 11 feet above the ground. A heliostat at H reflected the sun’s rays through...the slit at S to the revolving mirror R, thence through a hole in the shutter, through the lens, and to the distant mirror. THE HELIOSTAT . The... heliostat was one kindly furnished by Dr. Woodward, of the Army Medical Museum, and was a modification of Foucault’s form, designed by Keith. It was found

Neonatal blue-light phototherapy does not increase nevus count in 9-year-old children.

PubMed

Mahé, Emmanuel; Beauchet, Alain; Aegerter, Philippe; Saiag, Philippe

2009-05-01

One of the most important risk factors for melanoma is the number of acquired common and atypical nevi in childhood. The role played by neonatal blue-light phototherapy in the increasing incidence of common and atypical melanocytic nevi in childhood or adolescence has been discussed recently with discordant results. We designed a multicenter study to assess the effects of neonatal blue-light phototherapy on nevus count in a cohort of 9-year-old children. We counted back and arm nevi as a function of size in 828 children included in a French photoprotection educational campaign. History of neonatal phototherapy, phototype, skin, hair and eye color, and sunburn were assessed through questionnaires to which both parents and children responded, and a nevus count was performed by trained nurses blinded to phototherapy history. Mean nevus count was 16.7 per child. Twenty-two percent of the children had received neonatal blue-light phototherapy. Neonatal phototherapy had no effect on the nevus count irrespective of nevi location, nevi size, or phototype of the children. A light phototype, skin, and hair color; blue/green eyes; and history of sunburn were closely correlated with an increase in nevus count. This study found no evidence for a major role of blue-light phototherapy on nevus count in 9-year-old children. It underlines the dominant effect of phototype characteristics and history of sunburn in childhood on the early development of melanocytic nevi.

Video-mediated communication to support distant family connectedness.

PubMed

Furukawa, Ryoko; Driessnack, Martha

2013-02-01

It can be difficult to maintain family connections with geographically distant members. However, advances in computer-human interaction (CHI) systems, including video-mediated communication (VMC) are emerging. While VMC does not completely substitute for physical face-to-face communication, it appears to provide a sense of virtual copresence through the addition of visual and contextual cues to verbal communication between family members. The purpose of this study was to explore current patterns of VMC use, experiences, and family functioning among self-identified VMC users separated geographically from their families. A total of 341 participants (ages 18 to above 70) completed an online survey and Family APGAR. Ninty-six percent of the participants reported that VMC was the most common communication method used and 60% used VMC at least once/week. The most common reason cited for using VMC over other methods of communication was the addition of visual cues. A significant difference between the Family APGAR scores and the number of positive comments about VMC experience was also found. This exploratory study provides insight into the acceptance of VMC and its usefulness in maintaining connections with distant family members.

County-level poverty and distant stage cancer in the United States.

PubMed

Greenlee, Robert T; Howe, Holly L

2009-08-01

Late stage cancer at diagnosis increases the likelihood of cancer death. We evaluated the relation of county-level poverty with late stage cancer for 18 anatomic sites using data from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Stratified analysis and logistic regression were applied to 2 million incident cancers (1997-2000) from 32 states representing 57% of the United States. For 12 sites, higher county poverty significantly increased the odds of late stage, [adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) comparing highest to lowest county poverty: larynx 2.4 (1.8-3.2), oral cavity 2.2 (1.8-2.7), melanoma 2.0 (1.5-2.8), female breast 1.9 (1.7-2.2), prostate 1.7 (1.5-1.9), corpus uteri 1.6 (1.3-1.9), cervix 1.6 (1.3-2.1), bladder 1.6 (1.2-2.1), colorectum 1.4 (1.3-1.5), esophagus 1.3 (1.1-1.7), stomach 1.3 (1.1-1.5), and kidney 1.3 (1.1-1.5)]. With some exceptions, county poverty associations with stage were comparable across gender and race, but stronger among metropolitan cases. A few differences by age may reflect screening patterns. In this large population-based study, higher county poverty independently predicted distant stage cancer. This held for several non-screenable cancers, suggesting improved area economic deprivation, including access to and utilization of good medical care might facilitate earlier diagnosis and longer survival even for cancers without practical screening approaches.

Hedonic Benefits of Close and Distant Interaction Partners: The Mediating Roles of Social Approval and Authenticity.

PubMed

Venaglia, Rachel B; Lemay, Edward P

2017-09-01

The current research utilized ecological momentary assessment methodology to examine affective responses to interacting with close versus distant interaction partners during naturally occurring social interactions, and to test predictions regarding the mediating roles of perceived social approval and authenticity. Analysis of 4,602 social interactions reported by 176 participants suggested that, relative to interactions with distant partners, interactions with close partners were characterized by more positive affect. This effect was mediated by perceived social approval and authenticity. These findings suggest that social interactions with close others confer greater hedonic benefits relative to interactions with distant partners due to greater confidence in social approval and feelings of authenticity. Exploratory analyses suggested that interactions with close partners featured warmer and less shy behavior, and that participants who placed more importance on close relationships (as measured by high relational-interdependent self-construal) experienced more approval and authenticity in their interactions, particularly with distant partners.

"A Richness Study of 14 Distant X-Ray Clusters from the 160 Square Degree Survey"

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, Christine; West, Donald (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We have measured the surface density of galaxies toward 14 X-ray-selected cluster candidates at redshifts z(sub i) 0.46, and we show that they are associated with rich galaxy concentrations. These clusters, having X-ray luminosities of Lx(0.5-2 keV) approx. (0.5 - 2.6) x 10(exp 44) ergs/ sec are among the most distant and luminous in our 160 deg(exp 2) ROSAT Position Sensitive Proportional Counter cluster survey. We find that the clusters range between Abell richness classes 0 and 2 and have a most probable richness class of 1. We compare the richness distribution of our distant clusters to those for three samples of nearby clusters with similar X-ray luminosities. We find that the nearby and distant samples have similar richness distributions, which shows that clusters have apparently not evolved substantially in richness since redshift z=0.5. There is, however, a marginal tendency for the distant clusters to be slightly poorer than nearby clusters, although deeper multicolor data for a large sample would be required to confirm this trend. We compare the distribution of distant X-ray clusters in the L(sub X)-richness plane to the distribution of optically selected clusters from the Palomar Distant Cluster Survey. The optically selected clusters appear overly rich for their X-ray luminosities, when compared to X-ray-selected clusters. Apparently, X-ray and optical surveys do not necessarily sample identical mass concentrations at large redshifts. This may indicate the existence of a population of optically rich clusters with anomalously low X-ray emission, More likely, however, it reflects the tendency for optical surveys to select unvirialized mass concentrations, as might be expected when peering along large-scale filaments.

A review of the genus Kanakia Distant, 1892 (Insecta: Hemiptera, Cicadoidea, Cicadidae) from New Caledonia.

PubMed

Delorme, Quentin; Mille, Christian; Jourdan, Hervé

2016-03-16

Among New Caledonian cicada taxa, the endemic genus Kanakia Distant, 1892 appears as the most spectacular one, especially because of the large size of its species (length up to 50 mm for males). Recent new specimen collections helped to clarify the taxonomy of this spectacular genus. According to morphological characteristics, we were able to redefine and to split the present genus into three distinct genera: Kanakia Distant, 1892, Pseudokanakia Delorme gen. nov. and Panialna Delorme gen. nov. These two new genera are monotypic and have been respectively established from revision of Kanakia flavoannulata (Distant 1920) and Kanakia parva Boulard 1991. Also, the type species, Kanakia typica Distant, 1892, appears to be a complex of cryptic species. New acoustic and morphological observations allowed us to redefine K. typica and to describe four new species in this complex: Kanakia paniensis Delorme sp. nov., Kanakia rana Delorme sp. nov., Kanakia salesnii Delorme sp. nov. and Kanakia fuscocosta Delorme sp. nov. Kanakia gigas Boulard 1988 is also briefly discussed and the female is described. An identification key of the Kanakia species and allied genera is also provided.

One hundred million years of skin feeding? Extended parental care in a Neotropical caecilian (Amphibia: Gymnophiona).

PubMed

Wilkinson, Mark; Kupfer, Alexander; Marques-Porto, Rafael; Jeffkins, Hilary; Antoniazzi, Marta M; Jared, Carlos

2008-08-23

Maternal dermatophagy, the eating of maternal skin by offspring, is an unusual form of parental investment involving co-evolved specializations of both maternal skin and offspring dentition, which has been recently discovered in an African caecilian amphibian. Here we report the discovery of this form of parental care in a second, distantly related Neotropical species Siphonops annulatus, where it is characterized by the same syndrome of maternal and offspring specializations. The detailed similarities of skin feeding in different caecilian species provide strong evidence of its homology, implying its presence in the last common ancestor of these species. Biogeographic considerations, the separation of Africa and South American land masses and inferred timescales of amphibian diversification all suggest that skin feeding is an ancient form of parental care in caecilians, which has probably persisted in multiple lineages for more than 100 Myr. These inferences support the hypotheses that (i) maternal dermatophagy is widespread in oviparous direct-developing caecilians, and (ii) that viviparous caecilians that feed on the hypertrophied maternal oviduct evolved from skin-feeding ancestors. In addition to skin-feeding, young S. annulatus were observed to congregate around, and imbibe liquid exuded from, the maternal cloacal opening.

Million trees Los Angeles canopy cover and benefit assessment

Treesearch

E.G. McPherson; J.R. Simpson; Q. Xiao; C. Wu

2011-01-01

The Million Trees LA initiative intends to improve Los Angeles’s environment through planting and stewardship of 1 million trees. The purpose of this study was to measure Los Angeles’s existing tree canopy cover (TCC), determine if space exists for 1 million additional trees, and estimate future benefits from the planting. High-resolution QuickBird remote sensing data...

X-ray versus infrared selection of distant galaxy clusters: A case study using the XMM-LSS and SpARCS cluster samples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willis, J. P.; Ramos-Ceja, M. E.; Muzzin, A.; Pacaud, F.; Yee, H. K. C.; Wilson, G.

2018-04-01

We present a comparison of two samples of z > 0.8 galaxy clusters selected using different wavelength-dependent techniques and examine the physical differences between them. We consider 18 clusters from the X-ray selected XMM-LSS distant cluster survey and 92 clusters from the optical-MIR selected SpARCS cluster survey. Both samples are selected from the same approximately 9 square degree sky area and we examine them using common XMM-Newton, Spitzer-SWIRE and CFHT Legacy Survey data. Clusters from each sample are compared employing aperture measures of X-ray and MIR emission. We divide the SpARCS distant cluster sample into three sub-samples: a) X-ray bright, b) X-ray faint, MIR bright, and c) X-ray faint, MIR faint clusters. We determine that X-ray and MIR selected clusters display very similar surface brightness distributions of galaxy MIR light. In addition, the average location and amplitude of the galaxy red sequence as measured from stacked colour histograms is very similar in the X-ray and MIR-selected samples. The sub-sample of X-ray faint, MIR bright clusters displays a distribution of BCG-barycentre position offsets which extends to higher values than all other samples. This observation indicates that such clusters may exist in a more disturbed state compared to the majority of the distant cluster population sampled by XMM-LSS and SpARCS. This conclusion is supported by stacked X-ray images for the X-ray faint, MIR bright cluster sub-sample that display weak, centrally-concentrated X-ray emission, consistent with a population of growing clusters accreting from an extended envelope of material.

Photographer : JPL Range : 12 million km. ( 7.56 million miles) P-23057C & BW This Voyager 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1980-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 12 million km. ( 7.56 million miles) P-23057C & BW This Voyager 1 photograph of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 14 known satellites, shows little more than the upper layers of clouds covering the moon. The orange colored haze, is believed to be composed of photochemically produced hydrocarbons, hides Titan's solid surface from Voyager's camera. Some weak shadings in the clouds are becoming visible. However, note that the satellite's southern, lower, hemisphere is brighter than the northern. It is not known whether these subtle shadings are on the surface or are due to clouds below a high haze layer.

MMP-7 expression may influence the rate of distant recurrences and disease-specific survival in HPV-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

PubMed

Vento, Seija I; Jouhi, Lauri; Mohamed, Hesham; Haglund, Caj; Mäkitie, Antti A; Atula, Timo; Hagström, Jaana; Mäkinen, Laura K

2018-05-02

The objective of this study was to determine if matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) expression is related to human papilloma virus (HPV) status, clinical parameters, and outcome in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). Tumor tissue specimens from 201 OPSCC patients treated with curative intent were available for immunohistochemistry, and the samples were stained with monoclonal MMP-7 antibody. All the patients were followed up at least 3 years or until death. MMP-7 expression did not differ between HPV-positive and HPV-negative patients. MMP-7 was not prognostic among patients with HPV-negative OPSCC. In the HPV-positive subgroup, patients with moderate, high, or very high MMP-7 expression had significantly worse 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) (56.6%) than patients with absent, or low MMP-7 expression (77.2%), and MMP-7 expression appeared as a prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis. In addition, among HPV-positive OPSCC with moderate, high, or very high MMP-7 expression, the 5-year distant recurrence-free survival was significantly lower (69.6%) than in those who had low or absent MMP-7 expression (97.5%). Our results suggest that among HPV-positive OPSCC patients, high MMP-7 expression is related to worse 5-year DSS and increased rate of distant recurrences.

Steady incision of Grand Canyon at the million year timeframe: a case for mantle-driven differential uplift

USGS Publications Warehouse

Crow, Ryan S.; Karl Karlstrom,; Laura Crossey,; Richard Young,; Michael Ort,; Yemane Asmerom,; Victor Polyak,; Andrew Darling,

2014-01-01

The Grand Canyon region provides an excellent laboratory to examine the interplay between river incision, magmatism, and the geomorphic and tectonic processes that shape landscapes. Here we apply U-series, Ar–Ar, and cosmogenic burial dating of river terraces to examine spatial variations in incision rates along the 445 km length of the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. We also analyze strath terrace sequences that extend to heights of several hundred meters above the river, and integrate these with speleothem constrained maximum incision rates in several reaches to examine any temporal incision variations at the million-year time frame. This new high-resolution geochronology shows temporally steady long-term incision in any given reach of Grand Canyon but significant variations along its length from 160 m/Ma in the east to 101 m/Ma in the west. Spatial and temporal patterns of incision, and the long timescale of steady incision rule out models where geomorphic controls such as climate oscillations, bedrock strength, sediment load effects, or isostatic response to differential denudation are the first order drivers of canyon incision. The incision pattern is best explained by a model of Neogene and ongoing epeirogenic uplift due to an eastward propagating zone of increased upper mantle buoyancy that we infer from propagation of Neogene basaltic volcanism and a strong lateral gradient in modern upper mantle seismic structure.

Out of the dark: 350 million years of conservatism and evolution in diel activity patterns in vertebrates.

PubMed

Anderson, Samantha R; Wiens, John J

2017-08-01

Many animals are active only during a particular time (e.g., day vs. night), a partitioning that may have important consequences for species coexistence. An open question is the extent to which this diel activity niche is evolutionarily conserved or labile. Here, we analyze diel activity data across a phylogeny of 1914 tetrapod species. We find strong phylogenetic signal, showing that closely related species tend to share similar activity patterns. Ancestral reconstructions show that nocturnality was the most likely ancestral diel activity pattern for tetrapods and many major clades within it (e.g., amphibians, mammals). Remarkably, nocturnal activity appears to have been maintained continuously in some lineages for ∼350 million years. Thus, we show that traits involved in local-scale resource partitioning can be conserved over strikingly deep evolutionary time scales. We also demonstrate a potentially important (but often overlooked) metric of niche conservatism. Finally, we show that diurnal lineages appear to have faster speciation and diversification rates than nocturnal lineages, which may explain why there are presently more diurnal tetrapod species even though diurnality appears to have evolved more recently. Overall, our results may have implications for studies of community ecology, species richness, and the evolution of diet and communication systems. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Clinicopathological parameters, recurrence, locoregional and distant metastasis in 115 T1-T2 oral squamous cell carcinoma patients

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

The incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma remains high. Oral and oro-pharyngeal carcinomas are the sixth most common cancer in the world. Several clinicopathological parameters have been implicated in prognosis, recurrence and survival, following oral squamous cell carcinoma. In this retrospective analysis, clinicopathological parameters of 115 T1/T2 OSCC were studied and compared to recurrence and death from tumour-related causes. The study protocol was approved by the Joint UCL/UCLH committees of the ethics for human research. The patients' data was entered onto proformas, which were validated and checked by interval sampling. The fields included a range of clinical, operative and histopathological variables related to the status of the surgical margins. Data collection also included recurrence, cause of death, date of death and last clinic review. Causes of death were collated in 4 categories (1) death from locoregional spread, (2) death from distant metastasis, (3) death from bronchopulmonary pneumonia, and (4) death from any non-tumour event that lead to cardiorespiratory failure. The patients' population comprised 65 males and 50 females. Their mean age at the 1st diagnosis of OSCC was 61.7 years. Two-thirds of the patients were Caucasians. Primary sites were mainly identified in the tongue, floor of mouth (FOM), buccal mucosa and alveolus. Most of the identified OSCCs were low-risk (T1N0 and T2N0). All patients underwent primary resection ± neck dissection and reconstruction when necessary. Twenty-two patients needed adjuvant radiotherapy. Pathological analysis revealed that half of the patients had moderately differentiated OSCC. pTNM slightly differed from the cTNM and showed that 70.4% of the patients had low-risk OSCC. Tumour clearance was ultimately achieved in 107 patients. Follow-up resulted in a 3-year survival of 74.8% and a 5-year survival of 72.2%. Recurrence was identified in 23 males and 20 females. The mean age of 1st diagnosis of the

A squamous cell lung carcinoma with abscess-like distant metastasis.

PubMed

Dursunoğlu, Neşe; Başer, Sevin; Evyapan, Fatma; Kiter, Göksel; Ozkurt, Sibel; Polat, Bahattin; Karabulut, Nevzat

2007-01-01

This is a metastatic spread of squamous cell lung carcinoma to lungs, liver, lymph node, bone and subcutanous region as multiple abscess-like lesions. A fifty-five years old man admitted to the out-patient clinic with fever, cough, hemopthysis, night sweats, chest pain, abdominal pain and weight loss. In a short period of time abcess like lesions developed in his lungs, liver, lymph node, bone and subcutanous region. Though the clinical presentation is suggestive for an infectious condition, no success to antimicrobial treatment and negative results of microbiological studies have arised a need to further investigations. Histopathological studies of the abscess wall ultimately gave the definitive diagnosis as metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. We believe that case report is interesting because of the uncommon metastatic lesions masquerading the abscesses and also wide-spread multiple distant invasions of a squamous cell lung carcinoma in a short time period.

Is This Speck of Light an Exoplanet?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2004-09-01

nature of this intriguing object. Thus, the astronomers refer to it as a "Giant Planet Candidate Companion (GPCC)" [4]. Observations will now be made to ascertain whether the motion in the sky of GPCC is compatible with that of a planet orbiting 2M1207. This should become evident within 1-2 years at the most. PR Photo 26a/04: NACO image of the brown dwarf object 2M1207 and GPCC PR Photo 26b/04: Near-infrared spectrum of the brown dwarf object 2M1207 and GPCC PR Photo 26c/04: Comparison between the possible 2M1207 system and the solar system Just a speck of light ESO PR Photo 26a/04 ESO PR Photo 26a/04 The Brown Dwarf Object 2M1207 and GPCC [Preview - JPEG: 400 x 471 pix - 65k] [Normal - JPEG: 800 x 942 pix - 158k] Caption: ESO PR Photo 26a/04 is a composite image of the brown dwarf object 2M1207 (centre) and the fainter object seen near it, at an angular distance of 778 milliarcsec. Designated "Giant Planet Candidate Companion" by the discoverers, it may represent the first image of an exoplanet. Further observations, in particular of its motion in the sky relative to 2M1207 are needed to ascertain its true nature. The photo is based on three near-infrared exposures (in the H, K and L' wavebands) with the NACO adaptive-optics facility at the 8.2-m VLT Yepun telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory. Since 1998, a team of European and American astronomers [2] is studying the environment of young, nearby "stellar associations", i.e., large conglomerates of mostly young stars and the dust and gas clouds from which they were recently formed. The stars in these associations are ideal targets for the direct imaging of sub-stellar companions (planets or brown dwarf objects). The leader of the team, ESO astronomer Gael Chauvin notes that "whatever their nature, sub-stellar objects are much hotter and brighter when young - tens of millions of years - and therefore can be more easily detected than older objects of similar mass". The team especially focused on the study of the TW

1. DISTANT VIEW OF FRONT FROM SOUTHWEST SHOWING AREA OF ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

1. DISTANT VIEW OF FRONT FROM SOUTHWEST SHOWING AREA OF COUNCIL CHAMBERS, SHOP WITH PORTION OF WATER TREATMENT PLANT AND TRACK FILL AREA IN RIGHT HAND CORNER - Hardin City Water Works, 101 East Fourth Street, Hardin, Big Horn County, MT

A half-million-year record of paleoclimate from the Lake Manix Core, Mojave Desert, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reheis, Marith C.; Bright, Jordon; Lund, Steve P.; Miller, David M.; Skipp, Gary; Fleck, Robert J.

2012-01-01

Pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. responded sensitively to past climate through effects on rainfall, runoff, and evaporation. Although most studies agree that pluvial lakes in the southwestern U.S. reached their highest levels coeval with glacial stages, the specific timing of increased effective moisture and lake-level rise is debated, particularly for the southwesternmost lakes. We obtained a 45-m core of lacustrine sediment from Lake Manix, the former terminus of the Mojave River prior to about 25 ka, and supplemented data from the core with outcrop studies. These sediments provide a robust record of Mojave River discharge over the last half-million years. Lake Manix persisted from OIS 12 through early OIS 2, including during interstadial OIS 3 and interglacials OIS 5, 7, and 9. The ostracode faunal record displays a shift from an unexpectedly warm, summer-dominated lake hydrology during OIS 12 to predominantly colder, winter-dominated conditions afterwards. The ostracode-based stable isotope record displays a large degree of intra-sample variability and does not mimic other well-known isotopic records of climate change. Evaporation likely buffered the Manix δ18O record from most of the expected isotopic differences between interglacial and glacial-interval discharge. Isotopically depleted and stable lakes occurred only four to six times, most notably during OIS 7 and OIS 9. Internal drainage-basin changes also affected the isotopic record. Persistence of lakes in the Manix basin during interglacials requires atmospheric or oceanic circulation controls on the mean position of the Pacific storm track other than large ice sheets. We propose that the relative strength and sign of the Northern Annular Mode (NAM) and its influence on atmospheric river-derived precipitation is a potential explanation.

Conserved form and function of the germinal epithelium through 500 million years of vertebrate evolution.

PubMed

Grier, Harry J; Uribe, Mari Carmen; Lo Nostro, Fabiana L; Mims, Steven D; Parenti, Lynne R

2016-08-01

The germinal epithelium, i.e., the site of germ cell production in males and females, has maintained a constant form and function throughout 500 million years of vertebrate evolution. The distinguishing characteristic of germinal epithelia among all vertebrates, males, and females, is the presence of germ cells among somatic epithelial cells. The somatic epithelial cells, Sertoli cells in males or follicle (granulosa) cells in females, encompass and isolate germ cells. Morphology of all vertebrate germinal epithelia conforms to the standard definition of an epithelium: epithelial cells are interconnected, border a body surface or lumen, are avascular and are supported by a basement membrane. Variation in morphology of gonads, which develop from the germinal epithelium, is correlated with the evolution of reproductive modes. In hagfishes, lampreys, and elasmobranchs, the germinal epithelia of males produce spermatocysts. A major rearrangement of testis morphology diagnoses osteichthyans: the spermatocysts are arranged in tubules or lobules. In protogynous (female to male) sex reversal in teleost fishes, female germinal epithelial cells (prefollicle cells) and oogonia transform into the first male somatic cells (Sertoli cells) and spermatogonia in the developing testis lobules. This common origin of cell types from the germinal epithelium in fishes with protogynous sex reversal supports the homology of Sertoli cells and follicle cells. Spermatogenesis in amphibians develops within spermatocysts in testis lobules. In amniotes vertebrates, the testis is composed of seminiferous tubules wherein spermatogenesis occurs radially. Emerging research indicates that some mammals do not have lifetime determinate fecundity. The fact emerged that germinal epithelia occur in the gonads of all vertebrates examined herein of both sexes and has the same form and function across all vertebrate taxa. Continued study of the form and function of the germinal epithelium in vertebrates

Distant Saturn Sighting

NASA Image and Video Library

2002-11-01

Saturn appears serene and majestic in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, with arrival still 20 months away. The planet was 285 million kilometers (177 million miles) away from the spacecraft, nearly twice the distance between the Sun and Earth, when Cassini took images of it in various filters as an engineering test on Oct. 21, 2002. It is summer in Saturn's southern hemisphere. The Sun is a lofty 27 degrees below the equator and casts a semi-circular shadow of the planet on the rings. The shadow extends partway across the rings, leaving the outer A ring in sunlight. The last Saturn-bound spacecraft, Voyager 2, arrived in early northern spring. Many features seen in Voyager images -- spoke-like markings on the rings, clouds and eddies in the hazy atmosphere, ring-shepherding moons -- are not yet visible to Cassini. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, appears in the upper left. It is the only moon resolved from this distance. This composite uses a threefold enhancement in the brightness of Titan relative to the brightness of Saturn. Titan is a major attraction for scientists of the Cassini-Huygens mission. They will study its haze-enshrouded atmosphere and peer down, with special instrumentation, to its surface to look for evidence of organic processes similar to those that might have occurred on the early Earth, prior to the emergence of life. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02884

The Most Distant Mature Galaxy Cluster - Young, but surprisingly grown-up

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2011-03-01

Astronomers have used an armada of telescopes on the ground and in space, including the Very Large Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile to discover and measure the distance to the most remote mature cluster of galaxies yet found. Although this cluster is seen when the Universe was less than one quarter of its current age it looks surprisingly similar to galaxy clusters in the current Universe. "We have measured the distance to the most distant mature cluster of galaxies ever found", says the lead author of the study in which the observations from ESO's VLT have been used, Raphael Gobat (CEA, Paris). "The surprising thing is that when we look closely at this galaxy cluster it doesn't look young - many of the galaxies have settled down and don't resemble the usual star-forming galaxies seen in the early Universe." Clusters of galaxies are the largest structures in the Universe that are held together by gravity. Astronomers expect these clusters to grow through time and hence that massive clusters would be rare in the early Universe. Although even more distant clusters have been seen, they appear to be young clusters in the process of formation and are not settled mature systems. The international team of astronomers used the powerful VIMOS and FORS2 instruments on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to measure the distances to some of the blobs in a curious patch of very faint red objects first observed with the Spitzer space telescope. This grouping, named CL J1449+0856 [1], had all the hallmarks of being a very remote cluster of galaxies [2]. The results showed that we are indeed seeing a galaxy cluster as it was when the Universe was about three billion years old - less than one quarter of its current age [3]. Once the team knew the distance to this very rare object they looked carefully at the component galaxies using both the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes, including the VLT. They found evidence suggesting that most of the

A Customized Attention-Based Long Short-Term Memory Network for Distant Supervised Relation Extraction.

PubMed

He, Dengchao; Zhang, Hongjun; Hao, Wenning; Zhang, Rui; Cheng, Kai

2017-07-01

Distant supervision, a widely applied approach in the field of relation extraction can automatically generate large amounts of labeled training corpus with minimal manual effort. However, the labeled training corpus may have many false-positive data, which would hurt the performance of relation extraction. Moreover, in traditional feature-based distant supervised approaches, extraction models adopt human design features with natural language processing. It may also cause poor performance. To address these two shortcomings, we propose a customized attention-based long short-term memory network. Our approach adopts word-level attention to achieve better data representation for relation extraction without manually designed features to perform distant supervision instead of fully supervised relation extraction, and it utilizes instance-level attention to tackle the problem of false-positive data. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed approach is effective and achieves better performance than traditional methods.

Discovery of the Most Distant Supernovae and the Quest for {Omega}

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Goldhaber, G.; Perlmutter, S.; Gabi, S.; Goobar, A.; Kim, A.; Kim, M.; Pain, R.; Pennypacker, C.; Small, I.; Boyle, B.

1994-05-01

A search for cosmological supernovae has discovered a number of a type Ia supernovae. In particular, one at z = 0.458 is the most distant supernovae yet observed. There is strong evidence from measurements of nearby type Ia supernovae that they can be considered as "standard candles". The authors plan to use these supernovae to measure the deceleration in the general expansion of the universe. The aim of their experiment is to try and observe and measure about 30 such distant supernovae in order to obtain a measurement of the deceleration parameter q{sub o} which is related to {Omega}. Here {Omega} is the ratio of the density of the universe to the critical density, and they expect a measurement with an accuracy of about 30%.

Baseline intrinsic flammability of Earth's ecosystems estimated from paleoatmospheric oxygen over the past 350 million years.

PubMed

Belcher, Claire M; Yearsley, Jonathan M; Hadden, Rory M; McElwain, Jennifer C; Rein, Guillermo

2010-12-28

Atmospheric oxygen (O(2)) is estimated to have varied greatly throughout Earth's history and has been capable of influencing wildfire activity wherever fuel and ignition sources were present. Fires consume huge quantities of biomass in all ecosystems and play an important role in biogeochemical cycles. This means that understanding the influence of O(2) on past fire activity has far-reaching consequences for the evolution of life and Earth's biodiversity over geological timescales. We have used a strong electrical ignition source to ignite smoldering fires, and we measured their self-sustaining propagation in atmospheres of different oxygen concentrations. These data have been used to build a model that we use to estimate the baseline intrinsic flammability of Earth's ecosystems according to variations in O(2) over the past 350 million years (Ma). Our aim is to highlight times in Earth's history when fire has been capable of influencing the Earth system. We reveal that fire activity would be greatly suppressed below 18.5% O(2), entirely switched off below 16% O(2), and rapidly enhanced between 19-22% O(2). We show that fire activity and, therefore, its influence on the Earth system would have been high during the Carboniferous (350-300 Ma) and Cretaceous (145-65 Ma) periods; intermediate in the Permian (299-251 Ma), Late Triassic (285-201 Ma), and Jurassic (201-145 Ma) periods; and surprisingly low to lacking in the Early-Middle Triassic period between 250-240 Ma. These baseline variations in Earth's flammability must be factored into our understanding of past vegetation, biodiversity, evolution, and biogeochemical cycles.

Technical/commercial feasibility study of the production of fuel-grade ethanol from corn: 100-million-gallon-per-year production facility in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1982-05-01

The technical and economic feasibility of producing motor fuel alcohol from corn in a 100 million gallon per year plant to be constructed in Myrtle Grove, Louisiana is evaluated. The evaluation includes a detailed process design using proven technology, a capital cost estimate for the plant, a detailed analysis of the annual operating cost, a market study, a socioeconomic, environmental, health and safety analysis, and a complete financial analysis. Several other considerations for production of ethanol were evaluated including: cogeneration and fuel to be used in firing the boilers; single by-products vs. multiple by-products; and use of boiler flue gas for by-product drying.

The HVAC Challenges of Upgrading an Old Lab for High-end Light Microscopes

PubMed Central

Richard, R.; Martone, P.; Callahan, L.M.

2014-01-01

The University of Rochester Medical Center forms the centerpiece of the University of Rochester's health research, teaching, patient care, and community outreach missions. Within this large facility of over 5 million square feet, demolition and remodeling of existing spaces is a constant activity. With more than $145 million in federal research funding, lab space is frequently repurposed and renovated to support this work. The URMC Medical Center Facilities Organization supporting small to medium space renovations is constantly challenged and constrained by the existing mechanical infrastructure and budgets to deliver a renovated space that functions within the equipment environmental parameters. One recent project, sponsored by the URMC Shared Resources Laboratory, demonstrates these points. The URMC Light Microscopy Shared Resource Laboratory requested renovation of a 121 sq. ft. room in a 40 year old building which would enable placement of a laser capture microdissection microscope and a Pascal 5 laser scanning confocal microscope with the instruments separated by a blackout curtain. This poster discusses the engineering approach implemented to bring an older lab into the environmental specifications needed for the proper operation of the high-end light microscopes.

A Multi-Year Light Curve of Scorpius X-1 Based on CGRO BATSE Spectroscopy Detector Observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

McNamara, B. J.; Harrison, T. E.; Mason, P. A.; Templeton, M.; Heikkila, C. W.; Buckley, T.; Galvan, E.; Silva, A.; Harmon, B. A.

1998-01-01

A multi-year light curve of the low mass X-ray binary, Scorpius X-1, is constructed based on the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory (CGRO) Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) Spectroscopy Detector (SD) data in the nominal energy range of 10-20 keV. A detailed discussion is given of the reduction process of the BATSE/SD data. Corrections to the SD measurements are made for off-axis pointings, spectral and bandpass changes, and differences in the eight SD sensitivities. The resulting 4.4 year Sco X-1 SD light curve is characterized in terms of the time scales over which various types of emission changes occur. This light curve is then compared with Sco X-1 light curves obtained by Axiel 5, the BATSE Large Area Detectors (LADs), and the RXTE all-sky monitor (ASM). Coincident temporal coverage by the BATSE/SD and RXTE/ASM allows a direct comparison of the behavior of Sco X-1 over a range of high energies to be made. These ASM light curves are then used to discuss model constraints on the Sco X-1 system.

The Triangulum

NASA Image and Video Library

2011-01-10

NASA image release January 10, 2011 The Triangulum, located nearly 3 million light years from Earth, is another far galaxy where researchers have found diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs). The detailed observations needed to see DIBs along a straight line from Earth to an individual star in such a distant galaxy stretch the limits of even the largest telescopes. Credit: NASA/Swift Science Team/Stefan Immler To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/molecule-fingerprin... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

A quarter-million years of paleoenvironmental change at Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho

USGS Publications Warehouse

Kaufman, D.S.; Bright, Jordon; Dean, W.E.; Rosenbaum, J.G.; Moser, K.; Anderson, R. Scott; Colman, Steven M.; Heil, C.W.; Jiménez-Moreno, Gonzalo; Reheis, M.C.; Simmons, K.R.

2009-01-01

A continuous, 120-m-long core (BL00-1) from Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, contains evidence of hydrologic and environmental change over the last two glacial-interglacial cycles. The core was taken at 41.95??N, 111.31??W, near the depocenter of the 60-m-deep, spring-fed, alkaline lake, where carbonate-bearing sediment has accumulated continuously. Chronological control is poor but indicates an average sedimentation rate of 0.54 mm yr-1. Analyses have been completed at multi-centennial to millennial scales, including (in order of decreasing temporal resolution) sediment magnetic properties, oxygen and carbon isotopes on bulk-sediment carbonate, organic- and inorganiccarbon contents, palynology; mineralogy (X-ray diffraction), strontium isotopes on bulk carbonate, ostracode taxonomy, oxygen and carbon isotopes on ostracodes, and diatom assemblages. Massive silty clay and marl constitute most of the core, with variable carbonate content (average = 31 ?? 19%) and oxygen-isotopic values (??18O ranging from -18??? to -5??? in bulk carbonate). These variations, as well as fluctuations of biological indicators, reflect changes in the water and sediment discharged from the glaciated headwaters of the dominant tributary, Bear River, and the processes that influenced sediment delivery to the core site, including lake-level changes. Although its influence has varied, Bear River has remained a tributary to Bear Lake during most of the last quarter-million years. The lake disconnected from the river and, except for a few brief excursions, retracted into a topographically closed basin during global interglaciations (during parts of marine isotope stages 7, 5, and 1). These intervals contain up to 80% endogenic aragonite with high ??18O values (average = -5.8 ?? 1.7???), indicative of strongly evaporitic conditions. Interglacial intervals also are dominated by small, benthic/tychoplanktic fragilarioid species indicative of reduced habitat availability associated with low lake levels

20. DISTANT HELICOPTER VIEW TO SOUTHEAST UP LITTLE ROCK CREEK ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

20. DISTANT HELICOPTER VIEW TO SOUTHEAST UP LITTLE ROCK CREEK CANYON, WITH DAM AND RESERVOIR AT RIGHT CENTER. PALMDALE-LITTLEROCK DITCH, MARKED BY DENSE VEGETATION, CROSSES ROAD AT LOWER CENTER - Little Rock Creek Dam, Little Rock Creek, Littlerock, Los Angeles County, CA

Photographer : JPL Range : 5 million miles (8.025 million kilometers) This is a morning shot of

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1979-01-01

Photographer : JPL Range : 5 million miles (8.025 million kilometers) This is a morning shot of Ganymede, largest of Jupiter's 13 satellites. It's slightly larger than Mercury with a density about twice that of water. It's believed to be made of rock and ice with a surface of water and ice. Ganymede is 4 times brighter than our Moon with the bright spot in center of photo 5 times brighter than the Moon, and may contain more ice than surrounding areas. The bright pattern around the spot seems like ray craters on the Moon and Mercury and the area may in fact be an impact crater that has exposed fresh, underlying ice. Photo taken through blue, green and orange filters.

Average dimension and magnetic structure of the distant Venus magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saunders, M. A.; Russell, C. T.

1986-01-01

The first major statistical investigation of the far wake of an unmagnetized object embedded in the solar wind is reported. The investigation is based on Pioneer Venus Orbiter magnetometer data from 70 crossings of the Venus wake at altitudes between 5 and 11 Venus radii during reasonably steady IMF conditions. It is found that Venus has a well-developed-tail, flaring with altitude and possibly broader in the direction parallel to the IMF cross-flow component. Tail lobe field polarities and the direction of the cross-tail field are consistent with tail accretion from the solar wind. Average values for the cross-tail field (2 nT) and the distant tail flux (3 MWb) indicate that most distant tail field lines close across the center of the tail and are not rooted in the Venus ionosphere. The findings are illustrated in a three-dimensional schematic.

40. 500,000 POUND STATIC TEST FACILITY: DISTANT VIEW WITH BLOCKHOUSE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

40. 500,000 POUND STATIC TEST FACILITY: DISTANT VIEW WITH BLOCKHOUSE IN FOREGROUND, LOOKING SOUTHEAST - White Sands Missile Range, V-2 Rocket Facilities, Near Headquarters Area, White Sands, Dona Ana County, NM

A New Chytridiomycete Fungus Intermixed with Crustacean Resting Eggs in a 407-Million-Year-Old Continental Freshwater Environment

PubMed Central

Goral, Tomasz; Longcore, Joyce E.; Olesen, Jørgen; Kenrick, Paul; Edgecombe, Gregory D.

2016-01-01

The 407-million-year-old Rhynie Chert (Scotland) contains the most intact fossilised remains of an early land-based ecosystem including plants, arthropods, fungi and other microorganisms. Although most studies have focused on the terrestrial component, fossilised freshwater environments provide critical insights into fungal-algal interactions and the earliest continental branchiopod crustaceans. Here we report interactions between an enigmatic organism and an exquisitely preserved fungus. The fungal reproductive structures are intermixed with exceptionally well-preserved globular spiny structures interpreted as branchiopod resting eggs. Confocal laser scanning microscopy enabled us to reconstruct the fungus and its possible mode of nutrition, the affinity of the resting eggs, and their spatial associations. The new fungus (Cultoraquaticus trewini gen. et sp. nov) is attributed to Chytridiomycota based on its size, consistent formation of papillae, and the presence of an internal rhizoidal system. It is the most pristine fossil Chytridiomycota known, especially in terms of rhizoidal development and closely resembles living species in the Rhizophydiales. The spiny resting eggs are attributed to the crustacean Lepidocaris rhyniensis, dating branchiopod adaptation to life in ephemeral pools to the Early Devonian. The new fungal interaction suggests that, as in modern freshwater environments, chytrids were important to the mobilisation of nutrients in early aquatic foodwebs. PMID:27973602

Immunospecificity of albumin detected in 1.6 million-year-old fossils from Venta Micena in Orce, Granada, Spain.

PubMed

Borja, C; García-Pacheco, M; Olivares, E G; Scheuenstuhl, G; Lowenstein, J M

1997-08-01

The Orce skull fragment from southern Spain, dated at 1.6 Myr, has been a subject of heated controversy since it was first discovered in 1982. If it is hominid, as its discoverers contend, it is by far the oldest fossil hominid yet found in western Europe and implies that human populations settled this region much earlier than was previously realized. Numerous stone artifacts found at the Orce sites provide evidence that hominids were indeed present there in the Lower Pleistocene. Some paleontologists maintain that the 8 cm diameter occipital fragment is from a horse, not a hominid. Two independent investigations of the residual proteins in the skull were undertaken, one at the University of Granada in Spain, the other at the University of California, San Francisco. Two immunological methods of comparable sensitivity were employed for detection and species attribution of protein extracted from fossil bone: the Granada team used an enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the UCSF team used a radioimmunoassay (RIA). Both teams obtained reactions characteristic of human albumin in the Orce skull and horse albumin in some of the horse fossils. These results support the lithic evidence that hominids were living in Andalusia 1.6 million years ago.

Jobs for Two Million Workers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VocEd, 1982

1982-01-01

The outlook for jobs in the computer industry is excellent for people with appropriate training. The shortage of computer personnel is expected to continue, resulting in higher wages, more job mobility, increasing job security and generally greater opportunities for two million Americans by 1990. (CT)

Extracting PICO Sentences from Clinical Trial Reports using Supervised Distant Supervision

PubMed Central

Wallace, Byron C.; Kuiper, Joël; Sharma, Aakash; Zhu, Mingxi (Brian); Marshall, Iain J.

2016-01-01

Systematic reviews underpin Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) by addressing precise clinical questions via comprehensive synthesis of all relevant published evidence. Authors of systematic reviews typically define a Population/Problem, Intervention, Comparator, and Outcome (a PICO criteria) of interest, and then retrieve, appraise and synthesize results from all reports of clinical trials that meet these criteria. Identifying PICO elements in the full-texts of trial reports is thus a critical yet time-consuming step in the systematic review process. We seek to expedite evidence synthesis by developing machine learning models to automatically extract sentences from articles relevant to PICO elements. Collecting a large corpus of training data for this task would be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, we derive distant supervision (DS) with which to train models using previously conducted reviews. DS entails heuristically deriving ‘soft’ labels from an available structured resource. However, we have access only to unstructured, free-text summaries of PICO elements for corresponding articles; we must derive from these the desired sentence-level annotations. To this end, we propose a novel method – supervised distant supervision (SDS) – that uses a small amount of direct supervision to better exploit a large corpus of distantly labeled instances by learning to pseudo-annotate articles using the available DS. We show that this approach tends to outperform existing methods with respect to automated PICO extraction. PMID:27746703

Identifying the potential long-term survivors among breast cancer patients with distant metastasis.

PubMed

Lee, E S; Jung, S Y; Kim, J Y; Kim, J J; Yoo, T K; Kim, Y G; Lee, K S; Lee, E S; Kim, E K; Min, J W; Han, W; Noh, D Y; Moon, H G

2016-05-01

We aimed to develop a prediction model to identify long-term survivors after developing distant metastasis from breast cancer. From the institution's database, we collected data of 547 patients who developed distant metastasis during their follow-ups. We developed a model that predicts the post-metastasis overall survival (PMOS) based on the clinicopathologic factors of the primary tumors and the characteristics of the distant metastasis. For validation, the survival data of 254 patients from four independent institutions were used. The median duration of the PMOS was 31.0 months. The characteristics of the initial primary tumor, such as tumor stage, hormone receptor status, and Ki-67 expression level, and the characteristics of the distant metastasis presentation including the duration of disease-free interval, the site of metastasis, and the presence of metastasis-related symptoms were independent prognostic factors determining the PMOS. The association between tumor stage and the PMOS was only seen in tumors with early relapses. The PMOS score, which was developed based on the above six factors, successfully identified patients with superior survival after metastasis. The median PMOS for patients with a PMOS score of <2 and for patients with a PMOS score of >5 were 71.0 and 12 months, respectively. The clinical significance of the PMOS score was further validated using independent multicenter datasets. We have developed a novel prediction model that can classify breast cancer patients with distant metastasis according to their survival after metastasis. Our model can be a valuable tool to identify long-term survivors who can be potential candidates for more intensive multidisciplinary approaches. Furthermore, our model can provide a more reliable survival information for both physicians and patients during their informed decision-making process. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All

Clinical management and outcomes in patients with hyperfunctioning distant metastases from differentiated thyroid cancer after total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine therapy.

PubMed

Qiu, Zhong-Ling; Shen, Chen-Tian; Luo, Quan-Yong

2015-02-01

Hyperfunctioning distant metastasis (HFDM) from differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is a rare entity. This study aimed to assess the outcomes of DTC patients presenting with HFDM after total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine therapy. A total of 5367 DTC patients treated with (131)I after total thyroidectomy were analyzed retrospectively from January 1991 to June 2013. Therapeutic efficacy was evaluated based on changes in serum thyroglobulin (Tg) and anatomical imaging changes in metastatic lesions. The relationships between survival time and several variables were assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox's proportional hazards model respectively. Thirty-eight patients with HFDM from DTC were diagnosed, including four with hyperthyroidism, four with subclinical hyperthyroidism, and three with subclinical hypothyroidism. The remaining 27 were euthyroid. Of 25 patients with lung metastases, 84% (21/25) showed disappearance or shrinkage of lung nodules; of 24 patients with bone metastases, 66.67% (16/24) exhibited no obvious imaging changes in metastatic bone lesions after (131)I therapy. Serum Tg decreased significantly in 81.58% (31/38) and increased in 18.42% (7/38) after (131)I therapy. The 10-year survival rate of DTC patients with HFDM was 65.79% (25/38). Multivariate analyses identified age at occurrence of distant metastases (<45 years), only lung metastases, and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC; p=0.032, NA, and 0.043) as independent predictors of survival. The response of hyperfunctioning lung metastases to (131)I treatment was better than that of non-hyperfunctioning lung metastases in DTC, while hyperfunctioning bone metastases responded similarly compared to non-hyperfunctioning bone metastases. Patients younger than 45 years at occurrence of distant metastases, those with only lung metastases, and patients with PTC had better prognoses.

76 FR 48758 - 2017-2025 Model Year Light-Duty Vehicle GHG Emissions and CAFE Standards: Supplemental Notice of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-09

... Presidential Memorandum on May 21, 2010, concerning the development of a new generation of clean cars and... cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles (light-duty vehicles) built in those model... and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of passenger cars and light-duty trucks of model years 2017...

Nuclear explosions and distant earthquakes: A search for correlations

USGS Publications Warehouse

Healy, J.H.; Marshall, P.A.

1970-01-01

An apparent correlation between nuclear explosions and earthquakes has been reported for the events between September 1961 and September 1966. When data from the events between September 1966 and December 1968 are examined, this correlation disappears. No relationship between the size of the nuclear explosions and the number of distant earthquakes is apparent in the data.

Iran sets sights on 5 million b/d of crude

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-09-21

This paper reports that Iran, currently producing 3.2 million b/d of oil, has set a production target of 5 million b/d by March 1994. On the way to that target Iran's oil flow will climb to 4 million b/d by March 1993, says A. Moshtaqhian, director of exploration and production for National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC). With oil reserves of about 100 million bbl, Iran will find it easy to increase productive capacity, Moshtaqhian told the Gulf Oil and Politics publication.