Pioneering Tree Improvement in Oklahoma

The pioneering tree improvement work in Oklahoma started in 1965 when Clayton Posey moved from Auburn University to Oklahoma State University. Clayton was hired by Glen Durrell (Department Head) to fill a teaching/research position in the Department of Forestry. As a native Oklahoman, Clayton recognized the need to start some long-term studies with the economically important timber species in the state. Fortunately he had access to McIntire-Stennis funds which he used to initiate studies with loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides). Tree selection started in 1966 and concurrently the Kiamichi Field Station was transferred to the Forestry Department from Horticulture. In typical Oklahoma fashion a strong spirit of cooperation emerged with Dierks Lumber Company (soon to be acquired by Weyerhaeuser), Herron Lumber Company, Oklahoma Forestry Division, and the Tiak District of the Ouachita National Forest all assisting with the program. The cooperative spirit was formalized in 1980 when the Oklahoma Forestry Division officially joined the Western Gulf Forest Tree Improvement Program.Papers and abstracts from the 27th Southern Forest Tree Improvement Conference held at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 24-27, 2003

Pulmonary Biomarkers Based on Alterations in Protein Expression after Exposure to Arsenic

OBJECTIVE: Environmental exposure to arsenic results in multiple adverse effects in the lung. Our objective was to identify potential pulmonary protein biomarkers in the lung-lining fluid of mice chronically exposed to low-dose As and to validate these protein changes in human populations exposed to As. METHODS: Mice were administered 10 or 50 ppb As (sodium arsenite) in their drinking water for 4 weeks. Proteins in the lung-lining fluid were identified using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (n = 3) or multidimensional protein identification technology (MUDPIT) (n = 2) coupled with mass spectrometry. Lung-induced sputum samples were collected from 57 individuals (tap water As ranged from ~ 5 to 20 ppb). Protein levels in sputum were determined by ELISA, and As species were analyzed in first morning void urine. RESULTS: Proteins in mouse lung-lining fluid whose expression was consistently altered by As included glutathione-S-transferase (GST)-omega-1, contraspin, apolipoprotein A-I and A-IV, enolase-1, peroxiredoxin-6, and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE). Validation of the putative biomarkers was carried out by evaluating As-induced alterations in RAGE in humans. Regression analysis demonstrated a significant negative correlation (p = 0.016) between sputum levels of RAGE and total urinary inorganic As, similar to results seen in our animal model. CONCLUSION: Combinations of proteomic analyses of animal models followed by specific analysis of human samples provide an unbiased determination of important, previously unidentified putative biomarkers that may be related to human disease

Seismic isolation of Advanced LIGO: Review of strategy, instrumentation and performance

The new generation of gravitational waves detectors require unprecedented levels of isolation from seismic noise. This article reviews the seismic isolation strategy and instrumentation developed for the Advanced LIGO observatories. It summarizes over a decade of research on active inertial isolation and shows the performance recently achieved at the Advanced LIGO observatories. The paper emphasizes the scientific and technical challenges of this endeavor and how they have been addressed. An overview of the isolation strategy is given. It combines multiple layers of passive and active inertial isolation to provide suitable rejection of seismic noise at all frequencies. A detailed presentation of the three active platforms that have been developed is given. They are the hydraulic pre-isolator, the single-stage internal isolator and the two-stage internal isolator. The architecture, instrumentation, control scheme and isolation results are presented for each of the three systems. Results show that the seismic isolation sub-system meets Advanced LIGO\u27s stringent requirements and robustly supports the operation of the two detectors

Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters

We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with Soft Gamma Repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f-modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 which occurred during the first year of LIGO's fifth science run. GW strain upper limits and model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits are estimated for individual bursts using a variety of simulated waveforms. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes published to date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependent isotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) between 3x10^45 and 9x10^52 erg depending on waveform type, detector antenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of the burst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted range of some SGR models.Comment: 6 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Advanced LIGO two-stage twelve-axis vibration isolation and positioning platform. Part 2: Experimental investigation and tests results

This paper presents the results of the past seven years of experimental investigation and testing done on the two-stage twelve-axis vibration isolation platform for Advanced LIGO gravity waves observatories. This five-ton two-and-half-meter wide system supports more than a 1000 kg of very sensitive equipment. It provides positioning capability and seismic isolation in all directions of translation and rotation. To meet the very stringent requirements of Advanced LIGO, the system must provide more than three orders of magnitude of isolation over a very large bandwidth. It must bring the motion below 10-11 m/Hz at 1 Hz and 10-12 m/Hz at 10 Hz. A prototype of this system has been built in 2006. It has been extensively tested and analyzed during the following two years. This paper shows how the experimental results obtained with the prototype were used to engineer the final design. It highlights how the engineering solutions implemented not only improved the isolation performance but also greatly simplified the assembly, testing, and commissioning process. During the past two years, five units have been constructed, tested, installed and commissioned at each of the two LIGO observatories. Five other units are being built for an upcoming third observatory. The test results presented show that the system meets the motion requirements, and reach the sensor noise in the control bandwidth

First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings

We report on a matched-filter search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic string cusps using LIGO data from the fourth science run (S4) which took place in February and March 2005. No gravitational waves were detected in 14.9 days of data from times when all three LIGO detectors were operating. We interpret the result in terms of a frequentist upper limit on the rate of gravitational wave bursts and use the limits on the rate to constrain the parameter space (string tension, reconnection probability, and loop sizes) of cosmic string models.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Replaced with version submitted to PR

All-sky LIGO Search for Periodic Gravitational Waves in the Early S5 Data

We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range 50--1100 Hz and with the frequency's time derivative in the range -5.0E-9 Hz/s to zero. Data from the first eight months of the fifth LIGO science run (S5) have been used in this search, which is based on a semi-coherent method (PowerFlux) of summing strain power. Observing no evidence of periodic gravitational radiation, we report 95% confidence-level upper limits on radiation emitted by any unknown isolated rotating neutron stars within the search range. Strain limits below 1.E-24 are obtained over a 200-Hz band, and the sensitivity improvement over previous searches increases the spatial volume sampled by an average factor of about 100 over the entire search band. For a neutron star with nominal equatorial ellipticity of 1.0E-6, the search is sensitive to distances as great as 500 pc--a range that could encompass many undiscovered neutron stars, albeit only a tiny fraction of which would likely be rotating fast enough to be accessible to LIGO. This ellipticity is at the upper range thought to be sustainable by conventional neutron stars and well below the maximum sustainable by a strange quark star.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Advanced LIGO two-stage twelve-axis vibration isolation and positioning platform. Part 1: Design and production overview

New generations of gravity wave detectors require unprecedented levels of vibration isolation. This paper presents the final design of the vibration isolation and positioning platform used in Advanced LIGO to support the interferometer\u27s core optics. This five-ton two-and-half-m wide system operating in ultra-high vacuum. It features two stages of isolation mounted in series. The stages are imbricated to reduce the overall height. Each stage provides isolation in all directions of translation and rotation. The system is instrumented with a unique combination of low noise relative and inertial sensors. The active control provides isolation from 0.1 Hz to 30 Hz. It brings the platform motion down to 10-11m/√Hz at 1 Hz. Active and passive isolation combine to bring the platform motion below 10-12m/√Hz at 10 Hz. The passive isolation lowers the motion below 10-13m/√Hz at 100 Hz. The paper describes how the platform has been engineered not only to meet the isolation requirements, but also to permit the construction, testing, and commissioning process of the fifteen units needed for Advanced LIGO observatories

Quantum state preparation and macroscopic entanglement in gravitational-wave detectors

Long-baseline laser-interferometer gravitational-wave detectors are operating at a factor of 10 (in amplitude) above the standard quantum limit (SQL) within a broad frequency band. Such a low classical noise budget has already allowed the creation of a controlled 2.7 kg macroscopic oscillator with an effective eigenfrequency of 150 Hz and an occupation number of 200. This result, along with the prospect for further improvements, heralds the new possibility of experimentally probing macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM) - quantum mechanical behavior of objects in the realm of everyday experience - using gravitational-wave detectors. In this paper, we provide the mathematical foundation for the first step of a MQM experiment: the preparation of a macroscopic test mass into a nearly minimum-Heisenberg-limited Gaussian quantum state, which is possible if the interferometer's classical noise beats the SQL in a broad frequency band. Our formalism, based on Wiener filtering, allows a straightforward conversion from the classical noise budget of a laser interferometer, in terms of noise spectra, into the strategy for quantum state preparation, and the quality of the prepared state. Using this formalism, we consider how Gaussian entanglement can be built among two macroscopic test masses, and the performance of the planned Advanced LIGO interferometers in quantum-state preparation