481 research outputs found
In-beam internal conversion electron spectroscopy with the SPICE detector
The SPectrometer for Internal Conversion Electrons (SPICE) has been
commissioned for use in conjunction with the TIGRESS -ray spectrometer
at TRIUMF's ISAC-II facility. SPICE features a permanent rare-earth magnetic
lens to collect and direct internal conversion electrons emitted from nuclear
reactions to a thick, highly segmented, lithium-drifted silicon detector. This
arrangement, combined with TIGRESS, enables in-beam -ray and internal
conversion electron spectroscopy to be performed with stable and radioactive
ion beams. Technical aspects of the device, capabilities, and initial
performance are presented
SPT-3G: A Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Experiment on the South Pole Telescope
We describe the design of a new polarization sensitive receiver, SPT-3G, for
the 10-meter South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT-3G receiver will deliver a
factor of ~20 improvement in mapping speed over the current receiver, SPTpol.
The sensitivity of the SPT-3G receiver will enable the advance from statistical
detection of B-mode polarization anisotropy power to high signal-to-noise
measurements of the individual modes, i.e., maps. This will lead to precise
(~0.06 eV) constraints on the sum of neutrino masses with the potential to
directly address the neutrino mass hierarchy. It will allow a separation of the
lensing and inflationary B-mode power spectra, improving constraints on the
amplitude and shape of the primordial signal, either through SPT-3G data alone
or in combination with BICEP-2/KECK, which is observing the same area of sky.
The measurement of small-scale temperature anisotropy will provide new
constraints on the epoch of reionization. Additional science from the SPT-3G
survey will be significantly enhanced by the synergy with the ongoing optical
Dark Energy Survey (DES), including: a 1% constraint on the bias of optical
tracers of large-scale structure, a measurement of the differential Doppler
signal from pairs of galaxy clusters that will test General Relativity on ~200
Mpc scales, and improved cosmological constraints from the abundance of
clusters of galaxies.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. To be published in Proceedings of SPIE Volume
9153. Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2014,
conference 915
Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving under Stress
High levels of acute and chronic stress are known to impair problem-solving and creativity on a broad range of tasks. Despite this evidence, we know little about protective factors for mitigating the deleterious effects of stress on problem-solving. Building on previous research showing that self-affirmation can buffer stress, we tested whether an experimental manipulation of self-affirmation improves problem-solving performance in chronically stressed participants. Eighty undergraduates indicated their perceived chronic stress over the previous month and were randomly assigned to either a self-affirmation or control condition. They then completed 30 difficult remote associate problem-solving items under time pressure in front of an evaluator. Results showed that self-affirmation improved problem-solving performance in underperforming chronically stressed individuals. This research suggests a novel means for boosting problem-solving under stress and may have important implications for understanding how self-affirmation boosts academic achievement in school settings. © 2013 Creswell et al
Design and Bolometer Characterization of the SPT-3G First-year Focal Plane
During the austral summer of 2016-17, the third-generation camera, SPT-3G,
was installed on the South Pole Telescope, increasing the detector count in the
focal plane by an order of magnitude relative to the previous generation.
Designed to map the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, SPT-3G
contains ten 6-in-hexagonal modules of detectors, each with 269 trichroic and
dual-polarization pixels, read out using 68x frequency-domain multiplexing.
Here we discuss design, assembly, and layout of the modules, as well as early
performance characterization of the first-year array, including yield and
detector properties.Comment: Conference proceeding for Low Temperature Detectors 2017. Accepted
for publication: 27 August 201
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Exome sequencing of Finnish isolates enhances rare-variant association power.
Exome-sequencing studies have generally been underpowered to identify deleterious alleles with a large effect on complex traits as such alleles are mostly rare. Because the population of northern and eastern Finland has expanded considerably and in isolation following a series of bottlenecks, individuals of these populations have numerous deleterious alleles at a relatively high frequency. Here, using exome sequencing of nearly 20,000 individuals from these regions, we investigate the role of rare coding variants in clinically relevant quantitative cardiometabolic traits. Exome-wide association studies for 64 quantitative traits identified 26 newly associated deleterious alleles. Of these 26 alleles, 19 are either unique to or more than 20 times more frequent in Finnish individuals than in other Europeans and show geographical clustering comparable to Mendelian disease mutations that are characteristic of the Finnish population. We estimate that sequencing studies of populations without this unique history would require hundreds of thousands to millions of participants to achieve comparable association power
Microtubules in Bacteria: Ancient Tubulins Build a Five-Protofilament Homolog of the Eukaryotic Cytoskeleton
Microtubules play crucial roles in cytokinesis, transport, and motility, and are therefore superb targets for anti-cancer drugs. All tubulins evolved from a common ancestor they share with the distantly related bacterial cell division protein FtsZ, but while eukaryotic tubulins evolved into highly conserved microtubule-forming heterodimers, bacterial FtsZ presumably continued to function as single homopolymeric protofilaments as it does today. Microtubules have not previously been found in bacteria, and we lack insight into their evolution from the tubulin/FtsZ ancestor. Using electron cryomicroscopy, here we show that the tubulin homologs BtubA and BtubB form microtubules in bacteria and suggest these be referred to as “bacterial microtubules” (bMTs). bMTs share important features with their eukaryotic counterparts, such as straight protofilaments and similar protofilament interactions. bMTs are composed of only five protofilaments, however, instead of the 13 typical in eukaryotes. These and other results suggest that rather than being derived from modern eukaryotic tubulin, BtubA and BtubB arose from early tubulin intermediates that formed small microtubules. Since we show that bacterial microtubules can be produced in abundance in vitro without chaperones, they should be useful tools for tubulin research and drug screening
Deficiency in origin licensing proteins impairs cilia formation: implications for the aetiology of meier-gorlin syndrome
Mutations in ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6, which encode proteins required for DNA replication origin licensing, cause Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS), a disorder conferring microcephaly, primordial dwarfism, underdeveloped ears, and skeletal abnormalities. Mutations in ATR, which also functions during replication, can cause Seckel syndrome, a clinically related disorder. These findings suggest that impaired DNA replication could underlie the developmental defects characteristic of these disorders. Here, we show that although origin licensing capacity is impaired in all patient cells with mutations in origin licensing component proteins, this does not correlate with the rate of progression through S phase. Thus, the replicative capacity in MGS patient cells does not correlate with clinical manifestation. However, ORC1-deficient cells from MGS patients and siRNA-mediated depletion of origin licensing proteins also have impaired centrosome and centriole copy number. As a novel and unexpected finding, we show that they also display a striking defect in the rate of formation of primary cilia. We demonstrate that this impacts sonic hedgehog signalling in ORC1-deficient primary fibroblasts. Additionally, reduced growth factor-dependent signaling via primary cilia affects the kinetics of cell cycle progression following cell cycle exit and re-entry, highlighting an unexpected mechanism whereby origin licensing components can influence cell cycle progression. Finally, using a cell-based model, we show that defects in cilia function impair chondroinduction. Our findings raise the possibility that a reduced efficiency in forming cilia could contribute to the clinical features of MGS, particularly the bone development abnormalities, and could provide a new dimension for considering developmental impacts of licensing deficiency
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