The antenna DSA 3 and its potential use for Radio Astronomy

The European Space Agency (ESA) will inaugurate its third Deep Space Antenna (DSA 3) by the end of 2012. DSA 3 will be located in Argentina near the city of Malarg"ue in the Mendoza province. While the instrument will be primarily dedicated to communications with interplanetary missions, the characteristics of its antenna and receivers will also enable standalone leading scientific contributions, with a high scientific-technological return. We outline here scientific proposals for a radio astronomical use of DSA 3.Comment: 4 pages, submitted as Proceedings for the BAA

Partially observable Markov decision processes with partially observable random discount factors

summary:This paper deals with a class of partially observable discounted Markov decision processes defined on Borel state and action spaces, under unbounded one-stage cost. The discount rate is a stochastic process evolving according to a difference equation, which is also assumed to be partially observable. Introducing a suitable control model and filtering processes, we prove the existence of optimal control policies. In addition, we illustrate our results in a class of GI/GI/1 queueing systems where we obtain explicitly the corresponding optimality equation and the filtering process

Transcorneal Permeation in a Corneal Device of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in Drug Delivery Systems

This work is focused on the ex vivo study of corneal permeation of two anti-inflammatory drugs: diclofenac, and flurbiprofen (as a model of hydrophilic and lipophilic drug, respectively) loaded to cyclodextrins or polymeric nanoparticles in order to determine differences in their corneal permeation against free drug or commercial eye drops. These studies were carried out in a corneal device designed and developed in our laboratory. In this work the habitual conditions for the permeation studies were modified to reproduce the behaviour when eye drops were administered. For this reason a new tetracompartmental pharmacokinetic model was developed. The complex formation of diclofenac with cyclodextrins and the flurbiprofen loaded to polymeric nanoparticles has been shown as effective procedures to remarkably increase the bioavailability of the anti-inflammatory drugs. The efficiency of polymeric nanoparticles of Poly (D-L lactic-coglycolyc) acid and poly-ε-caprolacton as intraocular targeting of NSAIDs has also been proved, being the latter polymer more effective to increase the flurbiprofen corneal permeation. The apparent corneal permeability coefficient of samples has been calculated getting a low permeation values for free drugs

Pinnacle sets of signed permutations

Pinnacle sets record the values of the local maxima for a given family of permutations. They were introduced by Davis-Nelson-Petersen-Tenner as a dual concept to that of peaks, previously defined by Billey-Burdzy-Sagan. In recent years pinnacles and admissible pinnacles sets for the type $A$ symmetric group have been widely studied. In this article we define the pinnacle set of signed permutations of types $B$ and $D$. We give a closed formula for the number of type $B$/$D$ admissible pinnacle sets and answer several other related enumerative questions.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Discrete Mathematic

The LMT Galaxies' 3 mm Spectroscopic Survey: First Results

The molecular phase of the interstellar medium (ISM) in galaxies offers fundamental insight for understanding star-formation processes and how stellar feedback affects the nuclear activity of certain galaxies. We present here Large Millimeter Telescope spectra obtained with the Redshift Search Receiver, a spectrograph that cover simultaneously the 3 mm band from 74 to 111 GHz with a spectral resolution of around 100 km/s. The observed galaxies that have been detected previously in HCN, have different degrees of nuclear activity, one normal galaxy (NGC 6946), the starburst prototype (M 82) and two ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs, IRAS 17208-0014 and Mrk 231). We plotted our data in the HCO+/HCN vs. HCN/13CO diagnostic diagram finding that NGC 6946 and M 82 are located close to other normal galaxies; and that both IRAS 17208-0014 and Mrk 231 are close to the position of the well known ULIRG Arp 220 reported by Snell et al. (2011). We found that in Mrk 231 -- a galaxy with a well known active galactic nucleus -- the HCO+/HCN ratio is similar to the ratio observed in other normal galaxies.Comment: Proceedings to appear in "Massive Young Star Clusters Near and Far: From the Milky Way to Reionization", 2013 Guillermo Haro Conference. Eds. Y. D. Mayya, D. Rosa-Gonzalez, & E. Terlevich, INAOE and AMC. 5 pages, 1 figur

MPK6, sphinganine and the \u3ci\u3eLCB2a\u3c/i\u3e gene from serine palmitoyltransferase are required in the signaling pathway that mediates cell death induced by long chain bases in \u3ci\u3eArabidopsis\u3c/i\u3e

• Long chain bases (LCBs) are sphingolipid intermediates acting as second messengers in programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. Most of the molecular and cellular features of this signaling function remain unknown. • We induced PCD conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and analyzed LCB accumulation kinetics, cell ultrastructure and phenotypes in serine palmitoyltransferase (spt), mitogen-activated protein kinase (mpk), mitogenactivated protein phosphatase (mkp1) and lcb-hydroxylase (sbh) mutants. • The lcb2a-1 mutant was unable to mount an effective PCD in response to fumonisin B1 (FB1), revealing that the LCB2a gene is essential for the induction of PCD. The accumulation kinetics of LCBs in wild-type (WT) and lcb2a-1 plants and reconstitution experiments with sphinganine indicated that this LCB was primarily responsible for PCD elicitation. The resistance of the null mpk6 mutant to manifest PCD on FB1 and sphinganine addition and the failure to show resistance on pathogen infection and MPK6 activation by FB1 and LCBs indicated that MPK6 mediates PCD downstream of LCBs. • This work describes MPK6 as a novel transducer in the pathway leading to LCBinduced PCD in Arabidopsis, and reveals that sphinganine and the LCB2a gene are required in a PCD process that operates as one of the more effective strategies used as defense against pathogens in plants

Exact symmetry breaking ground states for quantum spin chains

We introduce a family of spin-1/2 quantum chains, and show that their exact ground states break the rotational and translational symmetries of the original Hamiltonian. We also show how one can use projection to construct a spin-3/2 quantum chain with nearest neighbor interaction, whose exact ground states break the rotational symmetry of the Hamiltonian. Correlation functions of both models are determined in closed form. Although we confine ourselves to examples, the method can easily be adapted to encompass more general models.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex. 4 figures, minor changes, new reference

Comparison of visual and optical quality of monofocal versus multifocal intraocular lenses

Objective: To compare visual quality in patients implanted with Tecnis ® monofocal (ZCB00) and multifocal (ZMB00) intraocular lenses taking into account their optical quality measured in vitro with an eye model. Methods: In total, 122 patients participated in this study: 44 implanted with monofocal and 78 with multifocal intraocular lenses. Measurements of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were performed. The optical quality of the intraocular lenses was evaluated in three image planes (distance, intermediate and near) using an eye model on a test bench. The metric considered was the area under the curve of the modulation transfer function. Results: Optical quality at the far focus of the monofocal intraocular lens (area under the curve of the modulation transfer function = 66.97) was considerably better than that with the multifocal lens (area under the curve of the modulation transfer function = 32.54). However, no significant differences were observed between groups at the distance-corrected visual acuity. Distance-corrected near vision was better in the multifocal (0.15 ± 0.20 logMAR) than that in the monofocal group (0.43 ± 0.21 logMAR, p < 0.001), which correlated with the better optical quality at near reached by the multifocal intraocular lens (area under the curve of the modulation transfer function = 29.11) in comparison with the monofocal intraocular lens (area under the curve of the modulation transfer function = 5.0). In intermediate vision, visual acuity was 0.28 ± 0.16 logMAR (multifocal) and 0.36 ± 0.14 logMAR (monofocal) with p = 0.014, also in good agreement with the values measured in the optical quality (area under the curve of the modulation transfer function = 10.69 (multifocal) and 8.86 (monofocal)). The contrast sensitivity was similar in almost all frequencies. Pelli–Robson was slightly better in the monofocal (1.73) than in the multifocal group (1.64; p = 0.023). Conclusion: Patients implanted with multifocal ZMB00 achieved a distance visual acuity similar to those implanted with monofocal ZCB00, but showed significantly better intermediate and near visual acuity. A correlation was found between intraocular lenses’ optical quality and patients’ visual acuity. Contrast sensitivity was very similar between the multifocal and monofocal groups

Copy number variation mapping and genomic variation of autochthonous and commercial turkey populations

This study aims at investigating genomic diversity of several turkey populations using Copy Number Variants (CNVs). A total of 115 individuals from six Italian breeds (Colle Euganei, Bronzato Comune Italiano, Parma e Piacenza, Brianzolo, Nero d\u2019Italia, and Ermellinato di Rovigo), seven Narragansett, 38 commercial hybrids, and 30 Mexican turkeys, were genotyped with the Affymetrix 600K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) turkey array. The CNV calling was performed with the Hidden Markov Model of PennCNV software and with the Copy Number Analysis Module of SVS 8.4 by Golden Helix\uae. CNV were summarized into CNV regions (CNVRs) at population level using BEDTools. Variability among populations has been addressed by hierarchical clustering (pvclust R package) and by principal component analysis (PCA). A total of 2,987 CNVs were identified covering 4.65% of the autosomes of the Turkey_5.0/melGal5 assembly. The CNVRs identified in at least two individuals were 362\u2014189 gains, 116 losses, and 57 complexes. Among these regions the 51% contain annotated genes. This study is the first CNV mapping of turkey population using 600K chip. CNVs clustered the individuals according to population and their geographical origin. CNVs are known to be indicators also of adaptation, as some researches in different species are suggesting

Comparison of visual and optical quality of monofocal versus multifocal intraocular lenses

Postprint (author's final draft