Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

Special Investigations

An interview between Randy Lee Cutler and John Cussans exploring the relationship of research to artistic practice highlighting shared concerns that have arisen in their respective work and geographical contexts with specific reference to Cussans's artistic research project The Skullcracker Suite

Role of diagnostic testing in identifying and resolving dimensional-stability problems in electroplated laser mirrors

The metal mirrors which are the subject of this discussion are to be used in the Antares inertial fusion laser system. Antares is a high-power (40 TW), high-energy (35 to 40 kJ), pulsed CO/sub 2/ laser system for the investigation of inertial confinement fusion. The system contains more than four hundred small and large diamond-turned and conventionally polished mirrors. The largest mirrors are trapezoidal in shape with the longest dimension being 16 to 18 inches. The substrates are type 2124 aluminum for most large mirrors, and aluminum bronze, oxygen-free copper or a copper-zirconium alloy for most of the smaller mirrors. The optical surface is electro-deposited copper 20 to 40 mils thick. After nondestructive testing and rough machining, the electroplated surface is single-point diamond machined or conventionally polished

Production and purification of recombinant human interleukin-5 from yeast and baculovirus expression systems

A cDNA for human interleukin‐5 (hIL‐5) was created from the hIL‐5 gene using site‐directed mutagenesis to splice out the introns in vitro. This cDNA was expressed in yeast and baculovirus systems, utilizing in both cases an in‐frame fusion to the pre sequence of the α‐mating‐type factor to direct secretion. The highest level of production was achieved from Sf9 cells using a baculovirus vector in serum‐containing medium (2.7 mg/l), whereas in serum‐free medium ten times less hIL‐5 was produced. In the yeast system much lower levels of hIL‐5 were produced (12.5 μg/l). Recombinant hIL‐5 was purified to homogeneity from serum‐free baculovirus cultures. The rhIL‐5 consisted of a 30‐kDa homodimer linked by disulfide bridging. The purified recombinant protein had a specific activity on murine BCL1 cells of 1.5x104 U/mg, of 3x105 U/mg in the murine eosinophil differentiation factor assay, and 2.4x107 U/mg in a human peripheral eosinophil maintenance assay

New Ideas about the Origin of Agriculture Based on 50 Years of Museum-Curated Plant Remains

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74056/1/j.1749-6632.1981.tb28178.x.pd