Assessment of MISR and MODIS cloud top heights through inter-comparison with a back-scattering lidar at SIRTA

One year of back-scattering lidar cloud boundaries and optical depth were analysed for coincident inter-comparison with the latest processed versions of the NASA-TERRA MISR stereo and MODIS CO2-slicing operational cloud top heights. Optically thin clouds were found to be accurately characterised by the MISR cloud top height product as long as no other cloud was present at lower altitude. MODIS cloud top heights were generally found within the cloud extent retrieved by lidar; agreement improved as cloud optical depth increased and when CO2-slicing was the only technique used for the retrieval. The difference between Lidar and MISR cloud top heights was found to lie between −0.1 and 0.4 km for low clouds and between 0.1 and 3.1 km for high clouds. The difference between Lidar and MODIS cloud top heights was found to lie between −1.2 and 1.5 km for low clouds and between −1.4 and 2.7 km for high clouds

Observational Analysis of Cloud and Precipitation in Midlatitude Cyclones: Northern Versus Southern Hemisphere Warm Fronts

Extratropical cyclones are responsible for most of the precipitation and wind damage in the midlatitudes during the cold season, but there are still uncertainties on how they will change in a warming climate. An ubiquitous problem amongst General Circulation Models (GCMs) is a lack of cloudiness over the southern oceans that may be in part caused by a lack of clouds in cyclones. We analyze CloudSat, CALIPSO and AMSR-E observations for 3 austral and boreal cold seasons and composite cloud frequency of occurrence and precipitation at the warm fronts for northern and southern hemisphere oceanic cyclones. We find that cloud frequency of occurrence and precipitation rate are similar in the early stage of the cyclone life cycle in both northern and southern hemispheres. As cyclones evolve and reach their mature stage, cloudiness and precipitation at the warm front increase in the northern hemisphere but decrease in the southern hemisphere. This is partly caused by lower amounts of precipitable water being available to southern hemisphere cyclones, and smaller increases in wind speed as the cyclones evolve. Southern hemisphere cloud occurrence at the warm front is found to be more sensitive to the amount of moisture in the warm sector than to wind speeds. This suggests that cloudiness in southern hemisphere storms may be more susceptible to changes in atmospheric water vapor content, and thus to changes in surface temperature than their northern hemisphere counterparts. These differences between northern and southern hemisphere cyclones are statistically robust, indicating A-Train-based analyses as useful tools for evaluation of GCMs in the next IPCC report

Alteration of superconductivity of suspended carbon nanotubes by deposition of organic molecules

We have altered the superconductivity of a suspended rope of single walled carbon nanotubes, by coating it with organic polymers. Upon coating, the normal state resistance of the rope changes by less than 20 percent. But superconductivity, which on the bare rope shows up as a substantial resistance decrease below 300 mK, is gradualy suppressed. We correlate this to the suppression of radial breathing modes, measured with Raman Spectroscopy on suspended Single and Double-walled carbon nanotubes. This points to the breathing phonon modes as being responsible for superconductivity in carbon nanotubes

Multiple Satellite Observations of Cloud Cover in Extratropical Cyclones

Using cloud observations from NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer, and CloudSat-CALIPSO, composites of cloud fraction in southern and northern hemisphere extratropical cyclones are obtained for cold and warm seasons between 2006 and 2010, to assess differences between these three data sets, and between summer and winter cyclones. In both hemispheres and seasons, over the open ocean, the cyclone-centered cloud fraction composites agree within 5% across the three data sets, but behind the cold fronts, or over sea ice and land, the differences are much larger. To supplement the data set comparison and learn more about the cyclones, we also examine the differences in cloud fraction between cold and warm season for each data set. The difference in cloud fraction between cold and warm season southern hemisphere cyclones is small for all three data sets, but of the same order of magnitude as the differences between the data sets. The cold-warm season contrast in northern hemisphere cyclone cloud fractions is similar for all three data sets: in the warm sector, the cold season cloud fractions are lower close to the low, but larger on the equator edge than their warm season counterparts. This seasonal contrast in cloud fraction within the cyclones warm sector seems to be related to the seasonal differences in moisture flux within the cyclones. Our analysis suggests that the three different data sets can all be used confidently when studying the warm sector and warm frontal zone of extratropical cyclones but caution should be exerted when studying clouds in the cold sector

Probing Spin-Charge Separation in Tunnel-Coupled Parallel Quantum Wires

Interactions in one-dimensional (1D) electron systems are expected to cause a dynamical separation of electronic spin and charge degrees of freedom. A promising system for experimental observation of this non-Fermi-liquid effect consists of two quantum wires coupled via tunneling through an extended uniform barrier. Here we consider the minimal model of an interacting 1D electron system exhibiting spin-charge separation and calculate the differential tunneling conductance as well as the density-density response function. Both quantities exhibit distinct strong features arising from spin-charge separation. Our analysis of these features within the minimal model neglects interactions between electrons of opposite chirality and applies therefore directly to chiral 1D electron systems realized, e.g., at the edge of integer quantum-Hall systems. Physical insight gained from our results is useful for interpreting current experiment in quantum wires as our main conclusions still apply with nonchiral interactions present. In particular, we discuss the effect of charging due to applied voltages, and the possibility to observe spin-charge separation in a time-resolved experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, expanded version with many detail

Subconjunctival Injection of XG-102, a c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase Inhibitor Peptide, in the Treatment of Endotoxin-Induced Uveitis in Rats.

Abstract Purpose: XG-102, a TAT-coupled dextrogyre peptide inhibiting the c-Jun N-terminal kinase, was shown efficient in the treatment of experimental uveitis. Preclinical studies are now performed to determine optimal XG-102 dose and route of administration in endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) in rats with the purpose of clinical study design. METHODS: EIU was induced in Lewis rats by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) injection. XG-102 was administered at the time of LPS challenge by intravenous (IV; 3.2, 35 or 355 μg/injection), intravitreal (IVT; 0.08, 0.2 or 2.2 μg/eye), or subconjunctival (SCJ; 0.2, 1.8 or 22 μg/eye) routes. Controls received either the vehicle (saline) or dexamethasone phosphate injections. Efficacy was assessed by clinical scoring, infiltrating cells count, and expression of inflammatory mediators [inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1)]. The effect of XG-102 on phosphorylation of c-Jun was evaluated by Western blot. RESULTS: XG-102 demonstrated a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect in EIU after IV and SCJ administrations. Respective doses of 35 and 1.8 μg were efficient as compared with the vehicle-injected controls, but only the highest doses, respectively 355 and 22 μg, were as efficient as dexamethasone phosphate. After IVT injections, the anti-inflammatory effect of XG-102 was clinically evaluated similar to the corticoid's effect with all the tested doses. Regardless of the administration route, the lowest efficient doses of XG-102 significantly decreased the ration of phospho c-Jun/total c-Jun, reduced cells infiltration in the treated eyes, and significantly downregulated iNOS and CINC-1 expression in the retina. CONCLUSION: These results confirm that XG-102 peptide has potential for treating intraocular inflammation. SCJ injection appears as a good compromise to provide a therapeutic effect while limiting side effects

Sensitivity of warm-frontal processes to cloud-nucleating aerosol concentrations

An extratropical cyclone that crossed the United States on 9-11 April 2009 was successfully simulated at high resolution (3-km horizontal grid spacing) using the Colorado State University Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. The sensitivity of the associated warm front to increasing pollution levels was then explored by conducting the same experiment with three different background profiles of cloud-nucleating aerosol concentration. To the authors' knowledge, no study has examined the indirect effects of aerosols on warm fronts. The budgets of ice, cloud water, and rain in the simulation with the lowest aerosol concentrations were examined. The ice mass was found to be produced in equal amounts through vapor deposition and riming, and the melting of ice produced approximately 75% of the total rain. Conversion of cloud water to rain accounted for the other 25%. When cloud-nucleating aerosol concentrations were increased, significant changes were seen in the budget terms, but total precipitation remained relatively constant. Vapor deposition onto ice increased, but riming of cloud water decreased such that there was only a small change in the total ice production and hence there was no significant change in melting. These responses can be understood in terms of a buffering effect in which smaller cloud droplets in the mixed-phase region lead to both an enhanced vapor deposition and decreased riming efficiency with increasing aerosol concentrations. Overall, while large changes were seen in the microphysical structure of the frontal cloud, cloud-nucleating aerosols had little impact on the precipitation production of the warm front

Anti-vascular endothelial growth factor acts on retinal microglia/macrophage activation in a rat model of ocular inflammation.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) neutralizing antibodies injected in the vitreous of rat eyes influence retinal microglia and macrophage activation. To dissociate the effect of anti-VEGF on microglia and macrophages subsequent to its antiangiogenic effect, we chose a model of acute intraocular inflammation. METHODS: Lewis rats were challenged with systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection and concomitantly received 5 µl of rat anti-VEGF-neutralizing antibody (1.5 mg/ml) in the vitreous. Rat immunoglobulin G (IgG) isotype was used as the control. The effect of anti-VEGF was evaluated at 24 and 48 h clinically (uveitis scores), biologically (cytokine multiplex analysis in ocular media), and histologically (inflammatory cell counts on eye sections). Microglia and macrophages were immunodetected with ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA1) staining and counted based on their differential shapes (round amoeboid or ramified dendritiform) on sections and flatmounted retinas using confocal imaging and automatic quantification. Activation of microglia was also evaluated with inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and IBA1 coimmunostaining. Coimmunolocalization of VEGF receptor 1 and 2 (VEGF-R1 and R2) with IBA1 was performed on eye sections with or without anti-VEGF treatment. RESULTS: Neutralizing rat anti-VEGF antibodies significantly decreased ocular VEGF levels but did not decrease the endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) clinical score or the number of infiltrating cells and cytokines in ocular media (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, and monocyte chemoattractant protein [MCP]-1). Eyes treated with anti-VEGF showed a significantly decreased number of activated microglia and macrophages in the retina and the choroid and decreased iNOS-positive microglia. IBA1-positive cells expressed VEGF-R1 and R2 in the inflamed retina. CONCLUSIONS: Microglia and macrophages expressed VEGF receptors, and intravitreous anti-VEGF influenced the microglia and macrophage activation state. Taking into account that anti-VEGF drugs are repeatedly injected in the vitreous of patients with retinal diseases, part of their effects could result from unsuspected modulation of the microglia activation state. This should be further studied in other ocular pathogenic conditions and human pathology

Spectral problems in open quantum chaos

This review article will present some recent results and methods in the study of 1-particle quantum or wave scattering systems, in the semiclassical/high frequency limit, in cases where the corresponding classical/ray dynamics is chaotic. We will focus on the distribution of quantum resonances, and the structure of the corresponding metastable states. Our study includes the toy model of open quantum maps, as well as the recent quantum monodromy operator method.Comment: Compared with the previous version, misprints and typos have been corrected, and the bibliography update

Coherent frequency conversion in a superconducting artificial atom with two internal degrees of freedom

By adding a large inductance in a dc-SQUID phase qubit loop, one decouples the junctions' dynamics and creates a superconducting artificial atom with two internal degrees of freedom. In addition to the usual symmetric plasma mode ({\it s}-mode) which gives rise to the phase qubit, an anti-symmetric mode ({\it a}-mode) appears. These two modes can be described by two anharmonic oscillators with eigenstates $\ket{n_{s}}$ and $\ket{n_{a}}$ for the {\it s} and {\it a}-mode, respectively. We show that a strong nonlinear coupling between the modes leads to a large energy splitting between states $\ket{0_{s},1_{a}}$ and $\ket{2_{s},0_{a}}$. Finally, coherent frequency conversion is observed via free oscillations between the states $\ket{0_{s},1_{a}}$ and $\ket{2_{s},0_{a}}$