Cloud atlas for the FIRE Cirrus Intensive Field Observation (IFO)

An Intensive Field Observation (IFO) of cirrus clouds was conducted over the mid-western U.S. during the period October 13 to November 2, 1986. This activity, part of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE), included measurements made from specially deployed instruments on the ground, balloons, and aircraft as well as observations from existing operational and experimental satellites. One of the sets of satellite observations was the radiance measurements made with the 5-channel AVHRR radiometer on the NOAA 9 polar orbiting meteorological satellite. The ground resolution of the measurements at nadir is approx. 1 km. It is these measurements, made once each day at approximately 2:30 p.m. local time, that were used in determining the present cloud atlas. The area covered by the atlas is slightly larger than the area specified for the IFO, in order to be in alignment with the grid that will be used in a forthcoming atlas for the larger, ETO region. The atlas contains four pages of information for each satellite pass. The 1st page of each group shows the distribution of measured radiances in channel 1 (normalized to the incoming solar flux multiplied by the cosine of the solar zenith angle) and in channel 4 for the area as a whole and for each analysis box. The 2nd page shows the images in: channels 1 and 2, channel 3R; and channel 4. The 3rd page shows the retrieved parameters in graphical form for the region as a whole and for each analysis box, where cloud fraction appears as a contour plot with respect to optical thickness and cloudtop temperature. The 4th page provides a statistical summary of the retrieved parameters in numerical form for each analysis box

Spatial search by quantum walk

Grover's quantum search algorithm provides a way to speed up combinatorial search, but is not directly applicable to searching a physical database. Nevertheless, Aaronson and Ambainis showed that a database of N items laid out in d spatial dimensions can be searched in time of order sqrt(N) for d>2, and in time of order sqrt(N) poly(log N) for d=2. We consider an alternative search algorithm based on a continuous time quantum walk on a graph. The case of the complete graph gives the continuous time search algorithm of Farhi and Gutmann, and other previously known results can be used to show that sqrt(N) speedup can also be achieved on the hypercube. We show that full sqrt(N) speedup can be achieved on a d-dimensional periodic lattice for d>4. In d=4, the quantum walk search algorithm takes time of order sqrt(N) poly(log N), and in d<4, the algorithm does not provide substantial speedup.Comment: v2: 12 pages, 4 figures; published version, with improved arguments for the cases where the algorithm fail

Spatial search and the Dirac equation

We consider the problem of searching a d-dimensional lattice of N sites for a single marked location. We present a Hamiltonian that solves this problem in time of order sqrt(N) for d>2 and of order sqrt(N) log(N) in the critical dimension d=2. This improves upon the performance of our previous quantum walk search algorithm (which has a critical dimension of d=4), and matches the performance of a corresponding discrete-time quantum walk algorithm. The improvement uses a lattice version of the Dirac Hamiltonian, and thus requires the introduction of spin (or coin) degrees of freedom.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Computational and transcriptional evidence for microRNAs in the honey bee genome

A total of 68 non-redundant candidate honey bee miRNAs were identified computationally; several of them appear to have previously unrecognized orthologs in the Drosophila genome. Several miRNAs showed caste- or age-related differences in transcript abundance and are likely to be involved in regulating honey bee development

Origin and evolution of the octoploid strawberry genome.

Cultivated strawberry emerged from the hybridization of two wild octoploid species, both descendants from the merger of four diploid progenitor species into a single nucleus more than 1 million years ago. Here we report a near-complete chromosome-scale assembly for cultivated octoploid strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) and uncovered the origin and evolutionary processes that shaped this complex allopolyploid. We identified the extant relatives of each diploid progenitor species and provide support for the North American origin of octoploid strawberry. We examined the dynamics among the four subgenomes in octoploid strawberry and uncovered the presence of a single dominant subgenome with significantly greater gene content, gene expression abundance, and biased exchanges between homoeologous chromosomes, as compared with the other subgenomes. Pathway analysis showed that certain metabolomic and disease-resistance traits are largely controlled by the dominant subgenome. These findings and the reference genome should serve as a powerful platform for future evolutionary studies and enable molecular breeding in strawberry

Gaussian Quantum Information

The science of quantum information has arisen over the last two decades centered on the manipulation of individual quanta of information, known as quantum bits or qubits. Quantum computers, quantum cryptography and quantum teleportation are among the most celebrated ideas that have emerged from this new field. It was realized later on that using continuous-variable quantum information carriers, instead of qubits, constitutes an extremely powerful alternative approach to quantum information processing. This review focuses on continuous-variable quantum information processes that rely on any combination of Gaussian states, Gaussian operations, and Gaussian measurements. Interestingly, such a restriction to the Gaussian realm comes with various benefits, since on the theoretical side, simple analytical tools are available and, on the experimental side, optical components effecting Gaussian processes are readily available in the laboratory. Yet, Gaussian quantum information processing opens the way to a wide variety of tasks and applications, including quantum communication, quantum cryptography, quantum computation, quantum teleportation, and quantum state and channel discrimination. This review reports on the state of the art in this field, ranging from the basic theoretical tools and landmark experimental realizations to the most recent successful developments.Comment: 51 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Reviews of Modern Physic

NASA ERA Integrated CFD for Wind Tunnel Testing of Hybrid Wing-Body Configuration

NASAs Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project explores enabling technologies to reduce aviations impact on the environment. One research challenge area for the project has been to study advanced airframe and engine integration concepts to reduce community noise and fuel burn. In order to achieve this, complex wind tunnel experiments at both the NASA Langley Research Centers (LaRC) 14x22 and the Ames Research Centers 40x80 low-speed wind tunnel facilities were conducted on a Boeing Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) configuration. These wind tunnel tests entailed various entries to evaluate the propulsion airframe interference effects including aerodynamic performance and aeroacoustics. In order to assist these tests in producing high quality data with minimal hardware interference, extensive Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations were performed for everything from sting design and placement for both the wing body and powered ejector nacelle systems to the placement of aeroacoustic arrays to minimize its impact on the vehicles aerodynamics. This paper will provide a high level summary of the CFD simulations that NASA performed in support of the model integration hardware design as well as some simulation guideline development based on post-test aerodynamic data. In addition, the paper includes details on how multiple CFD codes (OVERFLOW, STAR-CCM+, USM3D, and FUN3D) were efficiently used to provide timely insight into the wind tunnel experimental setup and execution

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2–4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severity

The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the presence of variants in each gene. An ensemble of LASSO logistic regression models was used to identify the most informative Boolean features with respect to the genetic bases of severity. The Boolean features selected by these logistic models were combined into an Integrated PolyGenic Score that offers a synthetic and interpretable index for describing the contribution of host genetics in COVID-19 severity, as demonstrated through testing in several independent cohorts. Selected features belong to ultra-rare, rare, low-frequency, and common variants, including those in linkage disequilibrium with known GWAS loci. Noteworthily, around one quarter of the selected genes are sex-specific. Pathway analysis of the selected genes associated with COVID-19 severity reflected the multi-organ nature of the disease. The proposed model might provide useful information for developing diagnostics and therapeutics, while also being able to guide bedside disease management. © 2021, The Author(s)

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure