663 research outputs found
Image Slicer Performances from a Demonstrator for the SNAP/JDEM Mission - Part I: Wavelength Accuracy
A well-adapted visible and infrared spectrograph has been developed for the
SNAP (SuperNova/Acceleration Probe) experiment proposed for JDEM. The
instrument should have a high sensitivity to see faint supernovae but also a
good redshift determination better than 0.003(1+z) and a precise
spectrophotometry (2%). An instrument based on an integral field method with
the powerful concept of imager slicing has been designed. A large prototyping
effort has been performed in France which validates the concept. In particular
a demonstrator reproducing the full optical configuration has been built and
tested to prove the optical performances both in the visible and in the near
infrared range. This paper is the first of two papers. The present paper focus
on the wavelength measurement while the second one will present the
spectrophotometric performances. We adress here the spectral accuracy expected
both in the visible and in the near infrared range in such configuration and we
demonstrate, in particular, that the image slicer enhances the instrumental
performances in the spectral measurement precision by removing the slit effect.
This work is supported in France by CNRS/INSU/IN2P3 and by the French spatial
agency (CNES) and in US by the University of California.Comment: Submitted to PAS
Photometric quality of Dome C for the winter 2008 from ASTEP South
ASTEP South is an Antarctic Search for Transiting Exo- Planets in the South
pole field, from the Concordia station, Dome C, Antarctica. The instrument
consists of a thermalized 10 cm refractor observing a fixed 3.88\degree x
3.88\degree field of view to perform photometry of several thousand stars at
visible wavelengths (700-900 nm). The first winter campaign in 2008 led to the
retrieval of nearly 1600 hours of data. We derive the fraction of photometric
nights by measuring the number of detectable stars in the field. The method is
sensitive to the presence of small cirrus clouds which are invisible to the
naked eye. The fraction of night-time for which at least 50% of the stars are
detected is 74% from June to September 2008. Most of the lost time (18.5% out
of 26%) is due to periods of bad weather conditions lasting for a few days
("white outs"). Extended periods of clear weather exist. For example, between
July 10 and August 10, 2008, the total fraction of time (day+night) for which
photometric observations were possible was 60%. This confirms the very high
quality of Dome C for nearly continuous photometric observations during the
Antarctic winter
European Economies in the First Epoch of Imperialism and Mercantilism. 1415-1846.
The costs and benefits of European Imperialism from the conquest of Ceuta, 1415, to the Treaty of Lusaka, 1974.Twelfth International Economic History Congress. Madrid, 1998.Patrick K. O'Brien and Leandro Prados de la Escosura (eds.)Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaJorge M. Pedreira. «To Have and To Have not». The Economic Consequences of Empire: Portugal (1415-1822).-- Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla. The American Empire and the Spanish Economy: An Institutional and Regional Perspective.-- Pieter C. Emmer. The Economic Impact of the Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1570-1870.-- Paul Butel and François Crouzet. Empire and Economic Growth: the Case of 18th Century France.-- Stanley L. Engerman. British Imperialism in a Mercantilist Age, 1492-1849: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Problems.Publicad
ASTEP South: An Antarctic Search for Transiting ExoPlanets around the celestial South pole
ASTEP South is the first phase of the ASTEP project (Antarctic Search for
Transiting ExoPlanets). The instrument is a fixed 10 cm refractor with a 4kx4k
CCD camera in a thermalized box, pointing continuously a 3.88 degree x 3.88
degree field of view centered on the celestial South pole. ASTEP South became
fully functional in June 2008 and obtained 1592 hours of data during the 2008
Antarctic winter. The data are of good quality but the analysis has to account
for changes in the point spread function due to rapid ground seeing variations
and instrumental effects. The pointing direction is stable within 10 arcseconds
on a daily timescale and drifts by only 34 arcseconds in 50 days. A truly
continuous photometry of bright stars is possible in June (the noon sky
background peaks at a magnitude R=15 arcsec-2 on June 22), but becomes
challenging in July (the noon sky background magnitude is R=12.5 arcsec?2 on
July 20). The weather conditions are estimated from the number of stars
detected in the field. For the 2008 winter, the statistics are between 56.3 %
and 68.4 % of excellent weather, 17.9 % to 30 % of veiled weather and 13.7 % of
bad weather. Using these results in a probabilistic analysis of transit
detection, we show that the detection efficiency of transiting exoplanets in
one given field is improved at Dome C compared to a temperate site such as La
Silla. For example we estimate that a year-long campaign of 10 cm refractor
could reach an efficiency of 69 % at Dome C versus 45 % at La Silla for
detecting 2-day period giant planets around target stars from magnitude 10 to
15. This shows the high potential of Dome C for photometry and future planet
discoveries. [Short abstract
Speckleplethysmographic (SPG) estimation of heart rate variability
Heart rate variability (HRV), a class of metrics derived from variability in R-R intervals typically measured using electrocardiography (ECG), has implications for cardiovascular and neurological health1. Recently, HRV was used to track the recovery of athletes after exercise training due to its ability to noninvasively monitor the autonomic nervous system (ANS)2. Exercise training generally has a positive impact on the ANS by reducing resting heart rate and increasing cardiac vagal tone at rest3. However, overexertion from excessive workout sessions can counteract the benefits of regular exercise and reduce HRV4.
Unfortunately, routine, remote ECG HRV monitoring is limited due to portability, cost, and loss of accuracy. Various groups have attempted to address the limitations of ECG monitored HRV by estimating HRV with simpler photoplethysmography (PPG) technology5. Transmittance PPG, the signal used in pulse oximetry, measures changes in intensity due to light absorption caused by the dilation and constriction of arteries and arterioles in the finger due to pulsatile blood flow. Alas, HRV approximated from PPG finger measurements loses accuracy due to significant peak time delays related to various factors such as arterial stiffness, vascular tone, and height6.
Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract
Preventing corona effects: multi-phosphonic acid poly(ethylene glycol) copolymers for stable stealth iron oxide nanoparticles
When disperse in biological fluids, engineered nanoparticles are selectively
coated with proteins, resulting in the formation of a protein corona. It is
suggested that the protein corona is critical in regulating the conditions of
entry into the cytoplasm of living cells. Recent reports describe this
phenomenon as ubiquitous and independent of the nature of the particle. For
nanomedicine applications however, there is a need to design advanced and
cost-effective coatings that are resistant to protein adsorption and that
increase the biodistribution in vivo. In this study, phosphonic acid
poly(ethylene glycol) copolymers were synthesized and used to coat iron oxide
particles. The copolymer composition was optimized to provide simple and
scalable protocols as well as long-term stability in culture media. It is shown
that polymers with multiple phosphonic acid functionalities and PEG chains
outperform other types of coating, including ligands, polyelectrolytes and
carboxylic acid functionalized PEG. PEGylated particles exhibit moreover
exceptional low cellular uptake, of the order of 100 femtograms of iron per
cell. The present approach demonstrates that the surface chemistry of
engineered particles is a key parameter in the interactions with cells. It also
opens up new avenues for the efficient functionalization of inorganic surfaces.Comment: 21 page, 7 figures,Biomacromolecules 201
The secondary eclipses of WASP-19b as seen by the ASTEP 400 telescope from Antarctica
The ASTEP (Antarctica Search for Transiting ExoPlanets) program was
originally aimed at probing the quality of the Dome C, Antarctica for the
discovery and characterization of exoplanets by photometry. In the first year
of operation of the 40 cm ASTEP 400 telescope (austral winter 2010), we
targeted the known transiting planet WASP-19b in order to try to detect its
secondary transits in the visible. This is made possible by the excellent
sub-millimagnitude precision of the binned data. The WASP-19 system was
observed during 24 nights in May 2010. The photometric variability level due to
starspots is about 1.8% (peak-to-peak), in line with the SuperWASP data from
2007 (1.4%) and larger than in 2008 (0.07%). We find a rotation period of
WASP-19 of 10.7 +/- 0.5 days, in agreement with the SuperWASP determination of
10.5 +/- 0.2 days. Theoretical models show that this can only be explained if
tidal dissipation in the star is weak, i.e. the tidal dissipation factor Q'star
> 3.10^7. Separately, we find evidence for a secondary eclipse of depth 390 +/-
190 ppm with a 2.0 sigma significance, a phase consistent with a circular orbit
and a 3% false positive probability. Given the wavelength range of the
observations (420 to 950 nm), the secondary transit depth translates into a day
side brightness temperature of 2690(-220/+150) K, in line with measurements in
the z' and K bands. The day side emission observed in the visible could be due
either to thermal emission of an extremely hot day side with very little
redistribution of heat to the night side, or to direct reflection of stellar
light with a maximum geometrical albedo Ag=0.27 +/- 0.13. We also report a
low-frequency oscillation well in phase at the planet orbital period, but with
a lower-limit amplitude that could not be attributed to the planet phase alone,
and possibly contaminated with residual lightcurve trends.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 13 pages, 13
figure
MRI-targeted or standard biopsy for prostate-cancer diagnosis
Background Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with or without targeted biopsy, is an alternative to standard transrectal ultrasonography-guided biopsy for prostate-cancer detection in men with a raised prostate-specific antigen level who have not undergone biopsy. However, comparative evidence is limited. Methods In a multicenter, randomized, noninferiority trial, we assigned men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer who had not undergone biopsy previously to undergo MRI, with or without targeted biopsy, or standard transrectal ultrasonography-guided biopsy. Men in the MRI-targeted biopsy group underwent a targeted biopsy (without standard biopsy cores) if the MRI was suggestive of prostate cancer; men whose MRI results were not suggestive of prostate cancer were not offered biopsy. Standard biopsy was a 10-to-12-core, transrectal ultrasonography-guided biopsy. The primary outcome was the proportion of men who received a diagnosis of clinically significant cancer. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of men who received a diagnosis of clinically insignificant cancer. Results A total of 500 men underwent randomization. In the MRI-targeted biopsy group, 71 of 252 men (28%) had MRI results that were not suggestive of prostate cancer, so they did not undergo biopsy. Clinically significant cancer was detected in 95 men (38%) in the MRI-targeted biopsy group, as compared with 64 of 248 (26%) in the standard-biopsy group (adjusted difference, 12 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4 to 20; P=0.005). MRI, with or without targeted biopsy, was noninferior to standard biopsy, and the 95% confidence interval indicated the superiority of this strategy over standard biopsy. Fewer men in the MRI-targeted biopsy group than in the standard-biopsy group received a diagnosis of clinically insignificant cancer (adjusted difference, -13 percentage points; 95% CI, -19 to -7; P<0.001). Conclusions The use of risk assessment with MRI before biopsy and MRI-targeted biopsy was superior to standard transrectal ultrasonography-guided biopsy in men at clinical risk for prostate cancer who had not undergone biopsy previously. (Funded by the National Institute for Health Research and the European Association of Urology Research Foundation; PRECISION ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02380027 .)
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