Gamma-Ray Lines from Young Supernova Remnants

The gamma-ray luminosity of a typical type I supernova remnant has been calculated by assuming that the origin of the optical luminosity is due to the energy of the radioactive decay of Ni56. Tt is ex- pected that Ni56 is the most abundant nucleus resulting from silicon burning in the supernova shock conditions. The requisite mass of Ni56 (0.14 Mo) gives rise to gamma-ray lines with energies near 1 MeV that should be detectable in young supernova remnants at distances up to a few Mpc. Future detectors aboard satellites should be able to detect events at the rate of about two observable events per year. A few supernova remnants in the Galaxy should be observable at all times in lines following the decay of Ti44

Chemical data assimilation estimates of continental U.S. ozone and nitrogen budgets during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America

Global ozone analyses, based on assimilation of stratospheric profile and ozone column measurements, and NOy predictions from the Real-time Air Quality Modeling System (RAQMS) are used to estimate the ozone and NOy budget over the continental United States during the July-August 2004 Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-North America (INTEX-A). Comparison with aircraft, satellite, surface, and ozonesonde measurements collected during INTEX-A show that RAQMS captures the main features of the global and continental U.S. distribution of tropospheric ozone, carbon monoxide, and NOy with reasonable fidelity. Assimilation of stratospheric profile and column ozone measurements is shown to have a positive impact on the RAQMS upper tropospheric/lower stratosphere ozone analyses, particularly during the period when SAGE III limb scattering measurements were available. Eulerian ozone and NOy budgets during INTEX-A show that the majority of the continental U.S. export occurs in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere poleward of the tropopause break, a consequence of convergence of tropospheric and stratospheric air in this region. Continental U.S. photochemically produced ozone was found to be a minor component of the total ozone export, which was dominated by stratospheric ozone during INTEX-A. The unusually low photochemical ozone export is attributed to anomalously cold surface temperatures during the latter half of the INTEX-A mission, which resulted in net ozone loss during the first 2 weeks of August. Eulerian NOy budgets are shown to be very consistent with previously published estimates. The NOy export efficiency was estimated to be 24%, with NOx + PAN accounting for 54% of the total NOy export during INTEX-A. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union

Novel Approaches to Visualization and Data Mining Reveals Diagnostic Information in the Low Amplitude Region of Serum Mass Spectra from Ovarian Cancer Patients

The ability to identify patterns of diagnostic signatures in proteomic data generated by high throughput mass spectrometry (MS) based serum analysis has recently generated much excitement and interest from the scientific community. These data sets can be very large, with high-resolution MS instrumentation producing 1-2 million data points per sample. Approaches to analyze mass spectral data using unsupervised and supervised data mining operations would greatly benefit from tools that effectively allow for data reduction without losing important diagnostic information. In the past, investigators have proposed approaches where data reduction is performed by a priori peak picking and alignment/warping/smoothing components using rule-based signal-to-noise measurements. Unfortunately, while this type of system has been employed for gene microarray analysis, it is unclear whether it will be effective in the analysis of mass spectral data, which unlike microarray data, is comprised of continuous measurement operations. Moreover, it is unclear where true signal begins and noise ends. Therefore, we have developed an approach to MS data analysis using new types of data visualization and mining operations in which data reduction is accomplished by culling via the intensity of the peaks themselves instead of by location. Applying this new analysis method on a large study set of high resolution mass spectra from healthy and ovarian cancer patients, shows that all of the diagnostic information is contained within the very lowest amplitude regions of the mass spectra. This region can then be selected and studied to identify the exact location and amplitude of the diagnostic biomarkers

FiberGLAST: a scintillating fiber approach to the GLAST mission

FiberGLAST is a scintillating fiber gamma-ray detector designed for the GLAST mission. The system described below provides superior effective area and field of view for modest cost and risk. An overview of the FiberGLAST instrument is presented, as well as a more detailed description of the principle elements of the primary detector volume. The triggering and readout electronics are described, and Monte Carlo Simulations of the instrument performance are presented

Beam test results for the FiberGLAST instrument

The FiberGLAST scintillating fiber telescope is a large-area instrument concept for NASA\u27s GLAST program. The detector is designed for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, and uses plastic scintillating fibers to combine a photon pair tracking telescope and a calorimeter into a single instrument. A small prototype detector has been tested with high energy photons at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. We report on the result of this beam test, including scintillating fiber performance, photon track reconstruction, angular resolution, and detector efficiency

Results from GROCSE I: A real-time search for gamma ray burst optical counterparts

The GROCSE I experiment (Gamma-Ray Optical Counterpart Search Experiment) is a rapid slewing wide field of view optical telescope at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which responds to triggers from the BATSE GRB data telemetry stream that have been processed and distributed by the BACODINE network. GROCSE I has been in continuous automated operation since January 1994. As of October 1995, sky images for 22 GRB triggers have been recorded, in some cases while the burst was still in progress. The preliminary analysis of eight of these events are presented here. No optical counterparts have yet been detected. Limits for optical emission are given. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87367/2/671_1.pd

Estimation of GRB detection by FiberGLAST

FiberGLAST is one of several instrument concepts being developed for possible inclusion as the primary Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) instrument. The predicted FiberGLAST effective area is more than 12,000 cm2 for energies between 30 MeV and 300 GeV, with a field of view that is essentially flat from 0°–80°. The detector will achieve a sensitivity more than 10 times that of EGRET. We present results of simulations that illustrate the sensitivity of FiberGLAST for the detection of gamma-ray bursts

Gamma ray burst optical counterpart search experiment (GROCSE)

GROCSE (Gamma-Ray Optical Counterpart Search Experiment) is a system of automated telescopes that search for simultaneous optical activity associated with gamma ray bursts in response to real-time burst notifications provided by the BATSE/BACODINE network. The first generation system, GROCSE I, is sensitive down to MV ∼ 8.5MV∼8.5 and requires an average of 12 seconds to obtain the first images of the gamma ray burst error box defined by the BACODINE trigger. The collaboration is now constructing a second generation system which has a 4 second slewing time and can reach MV ∼ 14MV∼14 with a 5 second exposure. GROCSE II consists of 4 cameras on a single mount. Each camera views the night sky through a commercial Canon lens (f/1.8,(f/1.8, focal length 200 mm) and utilizes a 2K×2K2K×2K Loral CCD. Light weight and low noise custom readout electronics were designed and fabricated for these CCDs. The total field of view of the 4 cameras is 17.6×17.6°.17.6×17.6°. GROCSE II will be operating by the end of 1995. In this paper, we present an overview of the GROCSE system and the results of measurements with a GROCSE II prototype unit. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87369/2/861_1.pd

Development and testing of a fiber/multianode photomultiplier system for use on FiberGLAST

A scintillating fiber detector is currently being studied for the NASA Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission. This detector utilizes modules composed of a thin converter sheet followed by an x, y plane of scintillating fibers to examine the shower of particles created by high energy gamma-rays interacting in the converter material. The detector is composed of a tracker with 90 such modular planes and a calorimeter with 36 planes. The two major component of this detector are the scintillating fibers and their associated photodetectors. Here we present current status of development and test result of both of these. The Hamamatsu R5900-00-M64 multianode photomultiplier tube (MAPMT) is the baseline readout device. A characterization of this device has been performed including noise, cross- talk, gain variation, vibration, and thermal/vacuum test. A prototype fiber/MAPMT system has been tested at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices at Louisiana State University with a photon beam and preliminary results are presented

Sex Differences in Severe Pulmonary Emphysema

Rationale: Limited data on sex differences in advanced COPD are available. Objectives: To compare male and female emphysema patients with severe disease. Methods: One thousand fifty-three patients (38.8% female) evaluated for lung volume reduction surgery as part of the National Emphysema Treatment Trial were analyzed. Measurements and Main Results: Detailed clinical, physiological, and radiological assessment, including quantitation of emphysema severity and distribution from helical chest computed tomography, was completed. In a subgroup (n = 101), airway size and thickness was determined by histological analyses of resected tissue. Women were younger and exhibited a lower bodymass index (BMI), shorter smoking history, less severe airflow obstruction, lower DLCO and arterial PO2, higher arterial PCO2, shorter six-minute walk distance, and lower maximal wattage during oxygen-supplemented cycle ergometry. For a given FEV1% predicted, age, number of packyears, and proportion of emphysema, women experienced greater dyspnea, higher modified BODE, more depression, lower SF-36 mental component score, and lower quality of well-being. Overall emphysema was less severe in women, with the difference from men most evident in the outer peel of the lung. Females had thicker small airway walls relative to luminal perimeters. Conclusions: In patients with severe COPD, women, relative to men, exhibit anatomically smaller airway lumens with disproportionately thicker airway walls, and emphysema that is less extensive and characterized by smaller hole size and less peripheral involvement.The National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) was supported by contracts with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01HR76101, N01HR76102, N01HR76103, N01HR76104, N01HR76105, N01HR76106, N01HR76107, N01HR76108, N01HR76109, N01HR76110, N01HR76111, N01HR76112, N01HR76113, N01HR76114, N01HR76115, N01HR76116, N01HR76118, and N01HR76119); the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS; formerly the Health Care Financing Administration); and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). J.L.C. is supported by funding from a Research Enhancement Award Program (REAP) from the Biomedical Laboratory Research & Development Service, Department of Veterans Affairs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91968/1/2007 Martinez AJRCCM Sex Differences in Empy.pd