Topography Experiment (TOPEX) Software Document Series Volume 7: TOPEX Mission Radar Altimeter Engineering Assessment Report, February 1994

This document describes the GSFC/WFF analysis of the on-orbit engineering data from the TOPEX radar altimeter, to establish altimeter performance. In accordance with Project guidelines, neither surface truth nor precision orbital data are used for the engineering assessment of the altimeter. The use of such data would imply not only a more intensive and complete performance evaluation, but also a calibration. Such evaluations and.calibrations are outside the scope of this document and will be presented in a separate Verification Report

TOPEX Radar Altimeter Engineering Assessment Report Final Update-Side B Turn-On to End-of-Mission on October 9, 2005

This is the thirteenth and final report in a series of TOPEX Radar Altimeter Engineering Assessment Reports. The initial TOPEX Radar Altimeter Engineering Assessment Report, in February 1994, presented performance results for the NASA Radar Altimeter on the TOPEX/POSEIDON spacecraft, from its launch in August 1992 to February 1994. Since the time of that initial report and prior to this report, there have been eleven interim supplemental Engineering Assessment Reports, issued in March 1995, May 1996, March 1997, June 1998, August 1999, September 2000, June 2001, March 2002, May 2003, April 2004 and September 2005. The sixth supplement in September 2000 was the first assessment report that addressed Side B performance, and presented the altimeter performance from Side B turn-on until the end of calendar year 1999. This report extends the performance assessment of Side B to the final collection of data on October 9, 2005, and includes the performance assessment of Jason-1, the TOPEX follow-on mission, launched on December 7, 2001. This report provides some comparisons of Side A and Side B performance

Over the moon or sick as a parrot? The effects of football results on a club's share price

International audienceThis paper considers the impact of match results on the stock returns of English football clubs. We propose that the magnitude of the response to a given result depends on the importance of the game, which is measured in two ways. First, we consider the extent to which the clubs are close rivals vying for similar league positions, as winning such games is particularly significant. Second, we argue that each individual game becomes more important for those clubs likely to be promoted or relegated as the season draws to a close, since a given match will have increasing information content concerning the final league position of the club. Using a fairly large panel comprising data for 19 clubs, we find some support for the notion that stock prices are more affected by the results of important matches than matches of lesser importance. We also observe that the difference between the number of points the club secures from a given match, and the number it was expected to secure, affects its stock price, as does the number of goals that the club under question scores in the match, relative to its competitor

Precision delivery of RAS-inhibiting siRNA to KRAS driven cancer via peptide-based nanoparticles

Over 95% of pancreatic adenocarcinomas (PDACs), as well as a large fraction of other tumor types, such as colorectal adenocarcinoma, are driven by KRAS activation. However, no direct RAS inhibitors exist for cancer therapy. Furthermore, the delivery of therapeutic agents of any kind to PDAC in particular has been hindered by the extensive desmoplasia and resultant drug delivery challenges that accompanies these tumors. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is a promising modality for anti-neoplastic therapy due to its precision and wide range of potential therapeutic targets. Unfortunately, siRNA therapy is limited by low serum half-life, vulnerability to intracellular digestion, and transient therapeutic effect. We assessed the ability of a peptide based, oligonucleotide condensing, endosomolytic nanoparticle (NP) system to deliver siRNA to KRAS-driven cancers. We show that this peptide-based NP is avidly taken up by cancer cell

Understanding the Relationship between Solar Coronal Abundances and F10.7 cm Radio Emission

Sun-as-a-star coronal plasma composition, derived from full-Sun spectra, and the F10.7 radio flux (2.8 GHz) have been shown to be highly correlated (r = 0.88) during solar cycle 24. However, this correlation becomes nonlinear during increased solar magnetic activity. Here, we use co-temporal, high spatial resolution, multi-wavelength images of the Sun to investigate the underlying causes of the non-linearity between coronal composition (FIP bias) and F10.7 solar index correlation. Using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), Hinode/EIS (EUV Imaging Spectrometer), and the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), we observed a small active region, AR 12759, throughout the solar atmosphere from the photosphere to the corona. Results of this study show that the magnetic field strength (flux density) in active regions plays an important role in the variability of coronal abundances, and it is likely the main contributing factor to this non-linearity during increased solar activity. Coronal abundances above cool sunspots are lower than in dispersed magnetic plage regions. Strong magnetic concentrations are associated with stronger F10.7 cm gyroresonance emission. Considering that as the solar cycle moves from minimum to maximum, the size of sunspots and their field strength increase with gyroresonance component, the distinctly different tendencies of radio emission and coronal abundances in the vicinity of sunspots is the likely cause of saturation of Sun-as-a-star coronal abundances during solar maximum, while the F10.7 index remains well correlated with the sunspot number and other magnetic field proxies.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Plagiarism Among Applicants for Faculty Positions

To the Editor. Recently, Dr. DiPiro published an article in the Journal1 that discussed several aspects pertinent to the process of faculty recruitment, emphasizing an individual\u27s “fit” within the culture of the hiring institution. In the present article, we discuss another aspect of “fitness” that became evident to our search committee during the 2010-2011 academic year..