A rapid graphical technique for obtaining radar data time history for close earth orbits

Radar tracking parameters and contact time errors from graphic estimation of radar tracking coverage of near earth orbit

Stratification-induced variations in nutrient utilization in the Polar North Atlantic during past interglacials

Vertical water mass structure in the Polar North Atlantic Ocean plays a critical role in planetary climate by influencing the formation rate of North Atlantic deepwater, which in turn affects surface heat transfer in the northern hemisphere, ventilation of the deep sea, and ocean circulation on a global scale. However, the response of upper stratification in the Nordic seas to near-future hydrologic forcing, as surface water warms and freshens due to global temperature rise and Greenland ice demise, remains poorly known. While past major interglacials are viewed as potential analogues of the present, recent findings suggest that very different surface ocean conditions prevailed in the Polar North Atlantic during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e and 11 compared to the Holocene. It is thus crucial to identify the causes of those differences in order to understand their role in climatic and oceanographic variability. To resolve this, we pair here bulk sediment 15N isotopic signatures with planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and their isotopic composition across major past interglacials. The comparison defines for the first time stratification-induced variations in nitrate utilization up to 25% between and within all of these warm periods that highlight changes in the thickness of the mixed-layer throughout the previous interglacials. That thickness directly controls the depth-level of Atlantic water inflow. The major changes of nitrate utilization recorded here thus suggest that a thicker mixed-layer prevailed during past interglacials, probably related to longer freshwater input associated with the preceding glacial termination. This would have caused the Atlantic water to flow at greater depth during MIS 5e and 11. These results call for caution when using older interglacials as modern or near-future climate analogues and contribute to the improvement of our general comprehension of the impact of freshwater input near a globally important deep-water formation site like the Nordic Seas. This is crucial when assessing the negative impacts on the Greenland Ice Sheet of climate change and global warming.published_or_final_versio

A Millimeter-Wave Achromatic Half Wave Plate

We have constructed an achromatic half wave plate (AHWP) suitable for the millimeter wavelength band. The AHWP was made from a stack of three sapphire a-cut birefringent plates with the optical axes of the middle plate rotated by 50.5 degrees with respect to the aligned axes of the other plates. The measured modulation efficiency of the AHWP at 110 GHz was $96 \pm 1.5$%. In contrast, the modulation efficiency of a single sapphire plate of the same thickness was $43 \pm 4$%. Both results are in close agreement with theoretical predictions. The modulation efficiency of the AHWP was constant as a function of incidence angles between 0 and 15 degrees. We discuss design parameters of an AHWP in the context of astrophysical broad band polarimetry at the millimeter wavelength band.Comment: In print - Applied Optics, 14 pages, 7 figure

Unnesting of Copatterns

Inductive data such as finite lists and trees can elegantly be defined by constructors which allow programmers to analyze and manipulate finite data via pattern matching. Dually, coinductive data such as streams can be defined by observations such as head and tail and programmers can synthesize infinite data via copattern matching. This leads to a symmetric language where finite and infinite data can be nested. In this paper, we compile nested pattern and copattern matching into a core language which only supports simple non-nested (co)pattern matching. This core language may serve as an intermediate language of a compiler. We show that this translation is conservative, i.e. the multi-step reduction relation in both languages coincides for terms of the original language. Furthermore, we show that the translation preserves strong and weak normalisation: a term of the original language is strongly/weakly normalising in one language if and only if it is so in the other. In the proof we develop more general criteria which guarantee that extensions of abstract reduction systems are conservative and preserve strong or weak normalisation. \ua9 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

Uso de morteros catalíticos sobre paneles, para el análisis de la reducción de partículas contaminantes en el aire

Trabajo de Investigación TecnológicaEste proyecto de grado se enfoca en la contaminación del aire y el uso de las nuevas tecnologías en la construcción para combatir este problema que genera afectaciones no solo ambientales, sino en la salud humana, en la flora y la fauna. La nanotecnología, es una rama que se desprende de las nuevas tecnologías y que se ha abierto paso en la industria de la construcción, por medio de la implementación de materiales y aditivos te tamaño nanométrico que mejoran y generan nuevas propiedades en los materiales comunes de construcción como el acero, concretos, morteros, pinturas, etc. En este proyecto se elaboró un concreto y mortero adicionando el Dióxido de titanio (TiO2), el cual actúa como un catalizador al combinarse con el cemento y los rayos ultra violeta, y su función principal es oxidar las partículas contaminantes suspendidas en el aire, por lo cual se categoriza como un descontaminante. Adicionalmente, el TiO2 puede mejorar las propiedades del concreto. Para comprobar el efecto del TiO2 en el concreto, se elaboraron cuatro cilindros de concreto común y de concreto adicionado, los cuales se fallaron en las edades típicas de falla y se compararon los resultados obtenidos. De igual manera, se fabricó un mortero adicionado, el cual se colocó sobre paneles y se dejó expuesto ocho días en un área de monitoreo de aire, y con los datos obtenidos se realizó el análisis correspondiente.1 INTRODUCCIÓN 2 ANTECEDENTES 3 PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 4 OBJETIVOS 5 JUSTIFICACIÓN 6 DELIMITACIONES 7 MARCO DE REFERENCIA 8 METODOLOGÍA 9 DISEÑO METODOLÓGICO. 10 CONCLUSIONES 11 RECOMENDACIONES BIBLIOGRAFÍAPregradoIngeniero Civi

Chromosomes 4 and 8 implicated in a genome wide SNP linkage scan of 762 prostate cancer families collected by the ICPCG

BACKGROUND In spite of intensive efforts, understanding of the genetic aspects of familial prostate cancer (PC) remains largely incomplete. In a previous microsatellite‐based linkage scan of 1,233 PC families, we identified suggestive evidence for linkage (i.e., LOD ≥ 1.86) at 5q12, 15q11, 17q21, 22q12, and two loci on 8p, with additional regions implicated in subsets of families defined by age at diagnosis, disease aggressiveness, or number of affected members. METHODS In an attempt to replicate these findings and increase linkage resolution, we used the Illumina 6000 SNP linkage panel to perform a genome‐wide linkage scan of an independent set of 762 multiplex PC families, collected by 11 International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ICPCG) groups. RESULTS Of the regions identified previously, modest evidence of replication was observed only on the short arm of chromosome 8, where HLOD scores of 1.63 and 3.60 were observed in the complete set of families and families with young average age at diagnosis, respectively. The most significant linkage signals found in the complete set of families were observed across a broad, 37 cM interval on 4q13–25, with LOD scores ranging from 2.02 to 2.62, increasing to 4.50 in families with older average age at diagnosis. In families with multiple cases presenting with more aggressive disease, LOD scores over 3.0 were observed at 8q24 in the vicinity of previously identified common PC risk variants, as well as MYC , an important gene in PC biology. CONCLUSIONS These results will be useful in prioritizing future susceptibility gene discovery efforts in this common cancer. Prostate 72:410–426, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90245/1/21443_ftp.pd

Analysis of Xq27-28 linkage in the international consortium for prostate cancer genetics (ICPCG) families.

BACKGROUND: Genetic variants are likely to contribute to a portion of prostate cancer risk. Full elucidation of the genetic etiology of prostate cancer is difficult because of incomplete penetrance and genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity. Current evidence suggests that genetic linkage to prostate cancer has been found on several chromosomes including the X; however, identification of causative genes has been elusive. METHODS: Parametric and non-parametric linkage analyses were performed using 26 microsatellite markers in each of 11 groups of multiple-case prostate cancer families from the International Consortium for Prostate Cancer Genetics (ICPCG). Meta-analyses of the resultant family-specific linkage statistics across the entire 1,323 families and in several predefined subsets were then performed. RESULTS: Meta-analyses of linkage statistics resulted in a maximum parametric heterogeneity lod score (HLOD) of 1.28, and an allele-sharing lod score (LOD) of 2.0 in favor of linkage to Xq27-q28 at 138 cM. In subset analyses, families with average age at onset less than 65 years exhibited a maximum HLOD of 1.8 (at 138 cM) versus a maximum regional HLOD of only 0.32 in families with average age at onset of 65 years or older. Surprisingly, the subset of families with only 2-3 affected men and some evidence of male-to-male transmission of prostate cancer gave the strongest evidence of linkage to the region (HLOD = 3.24, 134 cM). For this subset, the HLOD was slightly increased (HLOD = 3.47 at 134 cM) when families used in the original published report of linkage to Xq27-28 were excluded. CONCLUSIONS: Although there was not strong support for linkage to the Xq27-28 region in the complete set of families, the subset of families with earlier age at onset exhibited more evidence of linkage than families with later onset of disease. A subset of families with 2-3 affected individuals and with some evidence of male to male disease transmission showed stronger linkage signals. Our results suggest that the genetic basis for prostate cancer in our families is much more complex than a single susceptibility locus on the X chromosome, and that future explorations of the Xq27-28 region should focus on the subset of families identified here with the strongest evidence of linkage to this region.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are