Power scalable TEM(oo) CW Nd: YAG laser with thermal lens compensation

We present finite-element analyzes and experimental results to validate our approach for building high-power single-mode Nd:YAG lasers. We show that the thermooptical and thermomechanical properties of a slab laser can be controlled. This is essential for the use of the proposed unstable resonator. We include demonstration of an efficient subscale laser operating at 20 W TEM00.D. Mudge, M. Ostermeyer, P. J. Veitch, J. Munch, B. Middlemiss, D. J. Ottaway and M. W. Hamilto

Compensation of Strong Thermal Lensing in High Optical Power Cavities

In an experiment to simulate the conditions in high optical power advanced gravitational wave detectors such as Advanced LIGO, we show that strong thermal lenses form in accordance with predictions and that they can be compensated using an intra-cavity compensation plate heated on its cylindrical surface. We show that high finesse ~1400 can be achieved in cavities with internal compensation plates, and that the cavity mode structure can be maintained by thermal compensation. It is also shown that the measurements allow a direct measurement of substrate optical absorption in the test mass and the compensation plate.Comment: 8 page

The promoter from SlREO, a highly-expressed, root-specific Solanum lycopersicum gene, directs expression to cortex of mature roots

Root-specific promoters are valuable tools for targeting transgene expression, but many of those already described have limitations to their general applicability. We present the expression characteristics of SlREO, a novel gene isolated from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). This gene was highly expressed in roots but had a very low level of expression in aerial plant organs. A 2.4-kb region representing the SlREO promoter sequence was cloned upstream of the uidA GUS reporter gene and shown to direct expression in the root cortex. In mature, glasshouse-grown plants this strict root specificity was maintained. Furthermore, promoter activity was unaffected by dehydration or wounding stress but was somewhat suppressed by exposure to NaCl, salicylic acid and jasmonic acid. The predicted protein sequence of SlREO contains a domain found in enzymes of the 2-oxoglutarate and Fe(II)-dependent dioxygenase superfamily. The novel SlREO promoter has properties ideal for applications requiring strong and specific gene expression in the bulk of tomato root tissue growing in soil, and is also likely to be useful in other Solanaceous crop

Optimizing significance testing of astronomical forcing in cyclostratigraphy

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mobility deficit – Rehabilitate, an opportunity for functionality

There are many pathological conditions that cause mobility deficits and that ultimately influence someone’s autonomy.Aims: to evaluate patients with mobility deficits functional status; to implement a Rehabilitation Nursing intervention plan; to monitor health gains through mobility deficits rehabilitation.Conclusion: Early intervention and the implementation of a nursing rehabilitation intervention plan results in health gains (direct or indirect), decreases the risk of developing Pressure Ulcers (PU) and the risk of developing a situation of immobility that affects patients’ autonomy and quality of life

A Study of the effect of lithographic press speed on dot gain

Dot gain is the increase in size of a halftone dot or array of dots that takes place in the stages of reproduction of an image from original film to printing on a substrate. Uncontrolled dot gain is a source of multiple print quality problems including color variation, loss of detail and high waste factors during printing. Several factors have been identified as causes of dot gain. One factor that had not been investigated was the effect of press operating speed on dot gain. The purpose of this investigation is to study the effect that press speed has on dot gain. The experiment was designed to test the hypothesis that dot gain decreases as the operating speed of the press is increased. Experimentation was performed on Rochester Institute of Technology\u27s Harris M-1000B web press. The press was operated at four different speeds. Measurements of ink density were recorded from the sample press sheets collected during the experiment. The density measurements were analyzed and converted to dot area for comparison. Statistical analysis of the data collected affirmed an inverse relationship between press speed and dot gain

Phylogenetic Signal Variation in the Genomes of Medicago (Fabaceae)

Genome-scale data offer the opportunity to clarify phylogenetic relationships that are difficult to resolve with few loci, but they can also identify genomic regions with evolutionary history distinct from that of the species history. We collected whole-genome sequence data from 29 taxa in the legume genus Medicago, then aligned these sequences to the Medicago truncatula reference genome to confidently identify 87 596 variable homologous sites. We used this data set to estimate phylogenetic relationships among Medicago species, to investigate the number of sites needed to provide robust phylogenetic estimates and to identify specific genomic regions supporting topologies in conflict with the genome-wide phylogeny. Our full genomic data set resolves relationships within the genus that were previously intractable. Subsampling the data reveals considerable variation in phylogenetic signal and power in smaller subsets of the data. Even when sampling 5000 sites, no random sample of the data supports a topology identical to that of the genome-wide phylogeny. Phylogenetic relationships estimated from 500-site sliding windows revealed genome regions supporting several alternative species relationships among recently diverged taxa, consistent with the expected effects of deep coalescence or introgression in the recent history of Medicago. [Medicago; phylogenomics; whole-genome resequencing.

Investigation of guided wave propagation in pipes fully- and partially-embedded in concrete

The application of long-range guided-wave testing to pipes embedded in concrete results in unpredictable test-ranges. The influence of the circumferential extent of the embedding-concrete around a steel pipe on the guided wave propagation is investigated. An analytical model is used to study the axisymmetric fully embedded pipe case, while explicit finite-element and semi-analytical finite-element simulations are utilised to investigate a partially embedded pipe. Model predictions and simulations are compared with full-scale guided-wave tests. The transmission-loss of the T(0,1)-mode in an 8 in. steel pipe fully embedded over an axial length of 0.4 m is found to be in the range of 32–36 dB while it reduces by a factor of 5 when only 50% of the circumference is embedded. The transmission-loss in a fully embedded pipe is mainly due to attenuation in the embedded section while in a partially embedded pipe it depend strongly on the extent of mode-conversion at entry to the embedded-section; low loss modes with energy concentrated in the region of the circumference not-covered with concrete have been identified. The results show that in a fully embedded pipe, inspection beyond a short distance will not be possible, whereas when the concrete is debonded over a fraction of the pipe circumference, inspection of substantially longer lengths may be possible

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer spacecraft provides simultaneous spectra and images of the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region, and corona with 0.33-0.4 arcsec spatial resolution, 2 s temporal resolution and 1 km/s velocity resolution over a field-of-view of up to 175 arcsec x 175 arcsec. IRIS was launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit on 27 June 2013 using a Pegasus-XL rocket and consists of a 19-cm UV telescope that feeds a slit-based dual-bandpass imaging spectrograph. IRIS obtains spectra in passbands from 1332-1358, 1389-1407 and 2783-2834 Angstrom including bright spectral lines formed in the chromosphere (Mg II h 2803 Angstrom and Mg II k 2796 Angstrom) and transition region (C II 1334/1335 Angstrom and Si IV 1394/1403 Angstrom). Slit-jaw images in four different passbands (C II 1330, Si IV 1400, Mg II k 2796 and Mg II wing 2830 Angstrom) can be taken simultaneously with spectral rasters that sample regions up to 130 arcsec x 175 arcsec at a variety of spatial samplings (from 0.33 arcsec and up). IRIS is sensitive to emission from plasma at temperatures between 5000 K and 10 MK and will advance our understanding of the flow of mass and energy through an interface region, formed by the chromosphere and transition region, between the photosphere and corona. This highly structured and dynamic region not only acts as the conduit of all mass and energy feeding into the corona and solar wind, it also requires an order of magnitude more energy to heat than the corona and solar wind combined. The IRIS investigation includes a strong numerical modeling component based on advanced radiative-MHD codes to facilitate interpretation of observations of this complex region. Approximately eight Gbytes of data (after compression) are acquired by IRIS each day and made available for unrestricted use within a few days of the observation.Comment: 53 pages, 15 figure

Search for gravitational waves from binary inspirals in S3 and S4 LIGO data

We report on a search for gravitational waves from the coalescence of compact binaries during the third and fourth LIGO science runs. The search focused on gravitational waves generated during the inspiral phase of the binary evolution. In our analysis, we considered three categories of compact binary systems, ordered by mass: (i) primordial black hole binaries with masses in the range 0.35 M(sun) < m1, m2 < 1.0 M(sun), (ii) binary neutron stars with masses in the range 1.0 M(sun) < m1, m2 < 3.0 M(sun), and (iii) binary black holes with masses in the range 3.0 M(sun)< m1, m2 < m_(max) with the additional constraint m1+ m2 < m_(max), where m_(max) was set to 40.0 M(sun) and 80.0 M(sun) in the third and fourth science runs, respectively. Although the detectors could probe to distances as far as tens of Mpc, no gravitational-wave signals were identified in the 1364 hours of data we analyzed. Assuming a binary population with a Gaussian distribution around 0.75-0.75 M(sun), 1.4-1.4 M(sun), and 5.0-5.0 M(sun), we derived 90%-confidence upper limit rates of 4.9 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for primordial black hole binaries, 1.2 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for binary neutron stars, and 0.5 yr^(-1) L10^(-1) for stellar mass binary black holes, where L10 is 10^(10) times the blue light luminosity of the Sun.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure