54 research outputs found
Observations of gas flows inside a protoplanetary gap
Gaseous giant planet formation is thought to occur in the first few million
years following stellar birth. Models predict that giant planet formation
carves a deep gap in the dust component (shallower in the gas). Infrared
observations of the disk around the young star HD142527, at ~140pc, found an
inner disk ~10AU in radius, surrounded by a particularly large gap, with a
disrupted outer disk beyond 140AU, indicative of a perturbing planetary-mass
body at ~90 AU. From radio observations, the bulk mass is molecular and lies in
the outer disk, whose continuum emission has a horseshoe morphology. The
vigorous stellar accretion rate would deplete the inner disk in less than a
year, so in order to sustain the observed accretion, matter must flow from the
outer-disk into the cavity and cross the gap. In dynamical models, the putative
protoplanets channel outer-disk material into gap-crossing bridges that feed
stellar accretion through the inner disk. Here we report observations with the
Atacama Large Millimetre Array (ALMA) that reveal diffuse CO gas inside the
gap, with denser HCO+ gas along gap-crossing filaments, and that confirm the
horseshoe morphology of the outer disk. The estimated flow rate of the gas is
in the range 7E-9 to 2E-7 Msun/yr, which is sufficient to maintain accretion
onto the star at the present rate
Submillimeter Array Observations of the RX J1633.9-2442 Transition Disk: Evidence for Multiple Planets in the Making
We present continuum high resolution Submillimeter Array (SMA) observations
of the transition disk object RX J1633.9-2442, which is located in the
Ophiuchus molecular cloud and has recently been identified as a likely site of
ongoing giant planet formation. The observations were taken at 340 GHz (880
micron) with the SMA in its most extended configuration, resulting in an
angular resolution of 0.3" (35 AU at the distance of the target). We find that
the disk is highly inclined (i ~50 deg) and has an inner cavity ~25 AU in
radius, which is clearly resolved by our observations. We simultaneously model
the entire optical to millimeter wavelength spectral energy distribution (SED)
and SMA visibilities of RX J1633.9-2442 in order to constrain the structure of
its disk. We find that an empty cavity ~25 AU in radius is inconsistent with
the excess emission observed at 12, 22, and 24 micron. Instead, the mid-IR
excess can be modeled by either a narrow, optically thick ring at ~10 AU or an
optically thin region extending from ~7 AU to ~25 AU. The inner disk (r < 5 AU)
is mostly depleted of small dust grains as attested by the lack of detectable
near-IR excess. We also present deep Keck aperture masking observations in the
near-IR, which rule out the presence of a companion up to 500 times fainter
than the primary star (in K-band) for projected separations in the 5-20 AU
range. We argue that the complex structure of the RX J1633.9-2442 disk is best
explained by multiple planets embedded within the disk. We also suggest that
the properties and incidence of objects such as RX J1633.9-2442, T Cha, and
LkCa 15 (and those of the companions recently identified to these two latter
objects) are most consistent with the runaway gas accretion phase of the core
accretion model, when giant planets gain their envelopes and suddenly become
massive enough to open wide gaps in the disk.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
An unbiased ALMA spectral survey of the LkCa 15 and MWC 480 protoplanetary disks
Funding: R.A.L. gratefully acknowledges funding from ALMA Student Observing Support and a Jansky Fellowship. K.I.O. acknowledges funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and from the Simons Foundation (SCOL #321183). J.H. acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under grant No. DGE-1144152. E.A.B. acknowledges funding through NSF grant AST-1514670 and NASA NNX16AB48G. C.W. acknowledges financial support from STFC (grant reference ST/R000549/1) and the University of Leeds.The volatile contents of protoplanetary disks both set the potential for planetary chemistry and provide valuable probes of defining disk system characteristics such as stellar mass, gas mass, ionization, and temperature structure. Current disk molecular inventories are fragmented, however, giving an incomplete picture: unbiased spectral line surveys are needed to assess the volatile content. We present here an overview of such a survey of the protoplanetary disks around the Herbig Ae star MWC 480 and the T Tauri star LkCa 15 in ALMA Band 7, spanning ∼36 GHz from 275 to 317 GHz and representing an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity over previous single-dish surveys. We detect 14 molecular species (including isotopologues), with five species (C34S, 13CS, H2CS, DNC, and C2D) detected for the first time in protoplanetary disks. Significant differences are observed in the molecular inventories of MWC 480 and LkCa 15, and we discuss how these results may be interpreted in light of the different physical conditions of these two disk systems.PostprintPeer reviewe
Radial decoupling of small and large dust grains in the transitional disk RX J1615.3-3255
We present H-band (1.6 {\mu}m) scattered light observations of the
transitional disk RX J1615.3-3255, located in the ~1 Myr old Lupus association.
From a polarized intensity image, taken with the HiCIAO instrument of the
Subaru Telescope, we deduce the position angle and the inclination angle of the
disk. The disk is found to extend out to 68 12 AU in scattered light and
no clear structure is observed. Our inner working angle of 24 AU does not allow
us to detect a central decrease in intensity similar to that seen at 30 AU in
the 880 {\mu}m continuum observations. We compare the observations with
multiple disk models based on the Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) and submm
interferometry and find that an inner rim of the outer disk at 30 AU containing
small silicate grains produces a polarized intensity signal which is an order
of magnitude larger than observed. We show that a model in which the small dust
grains extend smoothly into the cavity found for large grains is closer to the
actual H-band observations. A comparison of models with different dust size
distributions suggests that the dust in the disk might have undergone
significant processing compared to the interstellar medium.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in A&
Polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter and multidrug resistance 1 genes: parasite risk factors that affect treatment outcomes for P. falciparum malaria after artemether-lumefantrine and artesunate-amodiaquine.
Adequate clinical and parasitologic cure by artemisinin combination therapies relies on the artemisinin component and the partner drug. Polymorphisms in the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (pfcrt) and P. falciparum multidrug resistance 1 (pfmdr1) genes are associated with decreased sensitivity to amodiaquine and lumefantrine, but effects of these polymorphisms on therapeutic responses to artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ) and artemether-lumefantrine (AL) have not been clearly defined. Individual patient data from 31 clinical trials were harmonized and pooled by using standardized methods from the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network. Data for more than 7,000 patients were analyzed to assess relationships between parasite polymorphisms in pfcrt and pfmdr1 and clinically relevant outcomes after treatment with AL or ASAQ. Presence of the pfmdr1 gene N86 (adjusted hazards ratio = 4.74, 95% confidence interval = 2.29 - 9.78, P < 0.001) and increased pfmdr1 copy number (adjusted hazards ratio = 6.52, 95% confidence interval = 2.36-17.97, P < 0.001 : were significant independent risk factors for recrudescence in patients treated with AL. AL and ASAQ exerted opposing selective effects on single-nucleotide polymorphisms in pfcrt and pfmdr1. Monitoring selection and responding to emerging signs of drug resistance are critical tools for preserving efficacy of artemisinin combination therapies; determination of the prevalence of at least pfcrt K76T and pfmdr1 N86Y should now be routine
The Late Stages of Protoplanetary Disk Evolution: A Millimeter Survey of Upper Scorpius
We present deep 1.2 millimeter photometry of 37 stars in the young (5 Myr)
Upper Scorpius OB association, sensitive to ~4 x 10^-3 Mjup of cool millimeter
dust. Disks around four low- and solar-mass stars are detected, as well as one
debris disk around an intermediate mass star, with dust masses ranging from 3.6
x 10^-3 -- 1.0 x 10^-1 Mjup. The source with the most massive disk exhibits a
transition-disk spectral energy distribution. Combining our results with
previous studies, we find the millimeter-detection fraction of Class II sources
has significantly decreased from younger ages, and comparison with
near-infrared and Halpha measurements indicates the present disks have
undergone significant evolution in composition or structure at all radii. The
disks of Upper Scorpius represent the tail-end of the depletion of primordial
disks; while a few near-solar mass stars may still sustain giant planet
formation, this process has finished around higher mass starsComment: Accepted by ApJ. 8 pages, 5 figures, 4 table
Human Bone Marrow-Derived Stem Cells Acquire Epithelial Characteristics through Fusion with Gastrointestinal Epithelial Cells
Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) have the ability to differentiate into a variety of cell types and are a potential source for epithelial tissue repair. Several studies have demonstrated their ability to repopulate the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in bone marrow transplanted patients or in animal models of gastrointestinal carcinogenesis where they were the source of epithelial cancers. However, mechanism of MSC epithelial differentiation still remains unclear and controversial with trans-differentiation or fusion events being evoked. This study aimed to investigate the ability of MSC to acquire epithelial characteristics in the particular context of the gastrointestinal epithelium and to evaluate the role of cell fusion in this process. In vitro coculture experiments were performed with three gastrointestinal epithelial cell lines and MSC originating from two patients. After an 8 day coculture, MSC expressed epithelial markers. Use of a semi-permeable insert did not reproduce this effect, suggesting importance of cell contacts. Tagged cells coculture or FISH on gender-mismatched cells revealed clearly that epithelial differentiation resulted from cellular fusion events, while expression of mesenchymal markers on fused cells decreased over time. In vivo cell xenograft in immunodeficient mice confirmed fusion of MSC with gastrointestinal epithelial cells and self-renewal abilities of these fused cells. In conclusion, our results indicate that fusion could be the predominant mechanism by which human MSC may acquire epithelial characteristics when in close contact with epithelial cells from gastrointestinal origin . These results could contribute to a better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms allowing MSC engraftment into the GIT epithelium
Exploration d'Espace de Conception pour des Techniques de Calculs Approximés pour la Mémoire
International audienceModern digital systems are processing more and more data. This increase in memory requirements must match the processing capabilities and interconnections to avoid the memory wall. Approximate computing techniques exist to alleviate these requirements but usually require a thorough and tedious analysis of the processing pipeline. This paper presents an applicationagnostic Design Space Exploration (DSE) of the buffer-sizing process to reduce the memory footprint of applications while guaranteeing an output quality above a defined threshold. The proposed DSE selects the appropriate bit-width and storage type for buffers to satisfy the constraint. We show in this paper that the proposed DSE reduces the memory footprint of the SqueezeNet CNN by 58.6% with identical Top-1 prediction accuracy, and the full SKA SDP pipeline by 39.7% without degradation, while only testing for a subset of the design space. The proposed DSE is fast enough to be integrated into the design stream of applications
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