2,373 research outputs found
Image Display and Manipulation System (IDAMS) program documentation, Appendixes A-D
The IDAMS Processor is a package of task routines and support software that performs convolution filtering, image expansion, fast Fourier transformation, and other operations on a digital image tape. A unique task control card for that program, together with any necessary parameter cards, selects each processing technique to be applied to the input image. A variable number of tasks can be selected for execution by including the proper task and parameter cards in the input deck. An executive maintains control of the run; it initiates execution of each task in turn and handles any necessary error processing
Instantaneous Growth and Mortality of Alevin Channel Catfish \u3cem\u3eIctalurus punctatus\u3c/em\u3e (Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) in the Oconee River, Georgia
Population Data-Driven Formulation of a COVID-19 Therapeutic
This study is designed to utilize computer modeling of the US population through the ongoing CDC NHANES trial to reduce the need for preclinical formulation and toxicology studies of an Ebola antiviral (BSN389) being repurposed for COVID-19, and to thereby speed the candidate therapeutic to the clinic. BSN389 has poor solubility in water and that limits its bioavailability. BCD greatly increases the solubility of BSN389 and results in high bioavailability of BSN389 in animal studies. The goal of this study is to determine the current daily exposure of the population to beta cyclodextrin (BCD), and then keep the amount of BCD in the formulation below that level, so drug use does not add significantly to BCD exposure of human subjects. Data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) are combined in this computational experiment with data on international BCD shipments from ingredient manufacturers to evaluate exposure of the US population
Taxonomic Features and Comparison of the Gut Microbiome from Two Edible Fungus-Farming Termites (Macrotermes falciger, M. natalensis) Harvested in the Vhembe District of Limpopo, South Africa
Background Termites are an important food resource for many human populations around the world, and are a good supply of nutrients. The fungus-farming ‘higher’ termite members of Macrotermitinae are also consumed by modern great apes and are implicated as critical dietary resources for early hominins. While the chemical nutritional composition of edible termites is well known, their microbiomes are unexplored in the context of human health. Here we sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of gut microbiota extracted from the whole intestinal tract of two Macrotermes sp. soldiers collected from the Limpopo region of South Africa. Results Major and minor soldier subcastes of M. falciger exhibit consistent differences in taxonomic representation, and are variable in microbial presence and abundance patterns when compared to another edible but less preferred species, M. natalensis. Subcaste differences include alternate patterns in sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogenic Euryarchaeota abundance, and differences in abundance between Alistipes and Ruminococcaceae. M. falciger minor soldiers and M. natalensissoldiers have similar microbial profiles, likely from close proximity to the termite worker castes, particularly during foraging and fungus garden cultivation. Compared with previously published termite and cockroach gut microbiome data, the taxonomic representation was generally split between termites that directly digest lignocellulose and humic substrates and those that consume a more distilled form of nutrition as with the omnivorous cockroaches and fungus-farming termites. Lastly, to determine if edible termites may point to a shared reservoir for rare bacterial taxa found in the gut microbiome of humans, we focused on the genus Treponema. The majority of Treponemasequences from edible termite gut microbiota most closely relate to species recovered from other termites or from environmental samples, except for one novel OTU strain, which clustered separately with Treponema found in hunter-gatherer human groups. Conclusions Macrotermes consumed by humans display special gut microbial arrangements that are atypical for a lignocellulose digesting invertebrate, but are instead suited to the simplified nutrition in the fungus-farmer diet. Our work brings to light the particular termite microbiome features that should be explored further as avenues in human health, agricultural sustainability, and evolutionary research
Conformal smectics and their many metrics
We establish that equally spaced smectic configurations enjoy an infinite-dimensional conformal symmetry and show that there is a natural map between them and null hypersurfaces in maximally symmetric spacetimes. By choosing the appropriate conformal factor it is possible to restore additional symmetries of focal structures only found before for smectics on flat substrates
The Soft X-ray Spectrum from NGC 1068 Observed with LETGS on Chandra
Using the combined spectral and spatial resolving power of the Low Energy
Transmission Grating (LETGS) on board Chandra, we obtain separate spectra from
the bright central source of NGC 1068 (Primary region), and from a fainter
bright spot 4" to the NE (Secondary region). Both spectra are dominated by line
emission from H- and He-like ions of C through S, and from Fe L-shell ions, but
also include narrow radiative recombination continua, indicating that most of
the soft X-ray emission arises in low-temperature (kT few eV) photoionized
plasma. We confirm the conclusions of Kinkhabwala et al. (2002), based on
XMM-Newton RGS observations, that the entire nuclear spectrum can be explained
by recombination/radiative cascade following photoionization, and radiative
decay following photoexcitation, with no evidence for hot, collisionally
ionized plasma. In addition, this model also provides an excellent fit to the
spectrum of the Secondary region, albeit with radial column densities a factor
of three lower, as would be expected given its distance from the source of the
ionizing continuum. The remarkable overlap and kinematical agreement of the
optical and X-ray line emission, coupled with the need for a distribution of
ionization parameter to explain the X-ray spectra, collectively imply the
presence of a distribution of densities (over a few orders of magnitude) at
each radius in the ionization cone. Relative abundances of all elements are
consistent with Solar abundance, except for N, which is 2-3 times Solar. The
long wavelength spectrum beyond 30 A is rich of L-shell transitions of Mg, Si,
S, and Ar, and M-shell transitions of Fe. The velocity dispersion decreases
with increasing ionization parameter, as deduced from these long wavelength
lines and the Fe-L shell lines.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Exploring the Spectral Space of Low Redshift QSOs
The Karhunen-Loeve (KL) transform can compactly represent the information
contained in large, complex datasets, cleanly eliminating noise from the data
and identifying elements of the dataset with extreme or inconsistent
characteristics. We develop techniques to apply the KL transform to the
4000-5700A region of 9,800 QSO spectra with z < 0.619 from the SDSS archive. Up
to 200 eigenspectra are needed to fully reconstruct the spectra in this sample
to the limit of their signal/noise. We propose a simple formula for selecting
the optimum number of eigenspectra to use to reconstruct any given spectrum,
based on the signal/noise of the spectrum, but validated by formal
cross-validation tests. We show that such reconstructions can boost the
effective signal/noise of the observations by a factor of 6 as well as fill in
gaps in the data. The improved signal/noise of the resulting set will allow for
better measurement and analysis of these spectra. The distribution of the QSO
spectra within the eigenspace identifies regions of enhanced density of
interesting subclasses, such as Narrow Line Seyfert 1s (NLS1s). The weightings,
as well as the inability of the eigenspectra to fit some of the objects, also
identifies "outliers," which may be objects that are not valid members of the
sample or objects with rare or unique properties. We identify 48 spectra from
the sample that show no broad emission lines, 21 objects with unusual [O III]
emission line properties, and 9 objects with peculiar H-beta emission line
profiles. We also use this technique to identify a binary supermassive black
hole candidate. We provide the eigenspectra and the reconstructed spectra of
the QSO sample.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figures, revised version resubmitted to the Astronomical
Journa
- …