No-Core Shell Model for Nuclear Systems with Strangeness

We report on a novel ab initio approach for nuclear few- and many-body systems with strangeness. Recently, we developed a relevant no-core shell model technique which we successfully applied in first calculations of lightest $\Lambda$ hypernuclei. The use of a translationally invariant finite harmonic oscillator basis allows us to employ large model spaces, compared to traditional shell model calculations, and use realistic nucleon-nucleon and nucleon-hyperon interactions (such as those derived from EFT). We discuss formal aspects of the methodology, show first demonstrative results for ${}_{\Lambda}^3$H, ${}_{\Lambda}^4$H and ${}^4_\Lambda$He, and give outlook.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Few Body Problems in Physics, 9 - 13 September, 2013, Cracow, Polan

Liquid Metering Centrifuge Sticks (LMCS): A Centrifugal Approach to Metering Known Sample Volumes for Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (C-SPE)

Phase separation is one of the most significant obstacles encountered during the development of analytical methods for water quality monitoring in spacecraft environments. Removing air bubbles from water samples prior to analysis is a routine task on earth; however, in the absence of gravity, this routine task becomes extremely difficult. This paper details the development and initial ground testing of liquid metering centrifuge sticks (LMCS), devices designed to collect and meter a known volume of bubble-free water in microgravity. The LMCS uses centrifugal force to eliminate entrapped air and reproducibly meter liquid sample volumes for analysis with Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (C-SPE). C-SPE is a sorption-spectrophotometric platform that is being developed as a potential spacecraft water quality monitoring system. C-SPE utilizes solid phase extraction membranes impregnated with analyte-specific colorimetric reagents to concentrate and complex target analytes in spacecraft water samples. The mass of analyte extracted from the water sample is determined using diffuse reflectance (DR) data collected from the membrane surface and an analyte-specific calibration curve. The analyte concentration can then be calculated from the mass of extracted analyte and the volume of the sample analyzed. Previous flight experiments conducted in microgravity conditions aboard the NASA KC-135 aircraft demonstrated that the inability to collect and meter a known volume of water using a syringe was a limiting factor in the accuracy of C-SPE measurements. Herein, results obtained from ground based C-SPE experiments using ionic silver as a test analyte and either the LMCS or syringes for sample metering are compared to evaluate the performance of the LMCS. These results indicate very good agreement between the two sample metering methods and clearly illustrate the potential of utilizing centrifugal forces to achieve phase separation and metering of water samples in microgravity

Enhancing Edge robotics through the use of context information

Cloud robotics aims at endowing robot systems with powerful capabilities by leveraging the computing resources available in theCloud. To that end, the Cloud infrastructure consolidates servicesand information among the robots, enabling a degree of centralization which has the potential to improve operations. Despite beingvery promising, Cloud robotics presents two critical issues: (i) it isvery hard to control the network between the robots and the Cloud(e.g., long delays, high jitter), and (ii) local context information (e.g.,on the access network) is not available in the Cloud. This makeshard to achieve deterministic performance for robotics applications.Over the last few years, Edge computing has emerged as a trend toprovide services and computing capabilities directly in the accessnetwork. This is so because of the additional benefits enabled byEdge computing: (i) it is easier to control the network end-to-end,and (ii) local context information (e.g., about the wireless channel) can be made available for use by applications. The goal of this paperis to showcase, by means of real-life experimentation, the benefits ofresiding at the Edge for robotics applications, due to the possibilityof consuming context information locally available. In our experimentation, an application running in the Edge controls over a Wi-Filink the movement of a robot. Information related to the wirelesschannel is made available via a service at the Edge, which is thenconsumed by the application.Results show that a smoother drivingof the robot can be achieved when wireless quality information isconsidered as input of the movement control algorithm.This article has been partially supported by the EU H2020 5G-CORAL Project (grant no. 761586) and by the 5G-City project (grant no. TEC2016-76795-C6-3-R) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

In-Flight Water Quality Monitoring on the International Space Station (ISS): Measuring Biocide Concentrations with Colorimetric Solid Phase Extraction (CSPE)

The colorimetric water quality monitoring kit (CWQMK) was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) on STS-128/17A and was initially deployed in September 2009. The kit was flown as a station development test objective (SDTO) experiment to evaluate the acceptability of colorimetric solid phase extraction (CSPE) technology for routine water quality monitoring on the ISS. During the SDTO experiment, water samples from the U.S. water processor assembly (WPA), the U.S. potable water dispenser (PWD), and the Russian system for dispensing ground-supplied water (SVO-ZV) were collected and analyzed with the CWQMK. Samples from the U.S. segment of the ISS were analyzed for molecular iodine, which is the biocide added to water in the WPA. Samples from the SVOZV system were analyzed for ionic silver, the biocide used on the Russian segment of the ISS. In all, thirteen in-flight analysis sessions were completed as part of the SDTO experiment. This paper provides an overview of the experiment and reports the results obtained with the CWQMK. The forward plan for certifying the CWQMK as operational hardware and expanding the capabilities of the kit are also discussed

Third International Conference on Applications of Optics and Photonics

Organic semiconductor rubrene (C42H28) belongs to most preferred spintronic materials because of the high charge carrier mobility up to 40 cm(2)(V.s)(-1). However, the fabrication of a defect-free, polycrystalline rubrene for spintronic applications represents a difficult task. We report preparation and properties of rubrene thin films deposited by pulsed laser evaporation of solidified solutions. Samples of rubrene dissolved in aromatic solvents toluene, xylene, dichloromethane and 1,1-dichloroethane (0.23-1% wt) were cooled to temperatures in the range of 16.5-163 K and served as targets. The target ablation was provided by a pulsed 1064 nm or 266 nm laser. For films of thickness up to 100 nm deposited on Si, glass and ITO glass substrates, the Raman and AFM data show presence of the mixed crystalline and amorphous rubrene phases. Agglomerates of rubrene crystals are revealed by SEM observation too, and presence of oxide/peroxide (C42H28O2) in the films is concluded from matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-offlight spectroscopic analysis

Conformance relations and hyperproperties for doping detection in time and space

We present a novel and generalised notion of doping cleanness for cyber-physical systems that allows for perturbing the inputs and observing the perturbed outputs both in the time- and value-domains. We instantiate our definition using existing notions of conformance for cyber-physical systems. As a formal basis for monitoring conformance-based cleanness, we develop the temporal logic HyperSTL*, an extension of Signal Temporal Logics with trace quantifiers and a freeze operator. We show that our generalised definitions are essential in a data-driven method for doping detection and apply our definitions to a case study concerning diesel emission tests

Altered translation of GATA1 in Diamond-Blackfan anemia

Ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency occurs in diverse human diseases including Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA),1,2 congenital asplenia,3 and T-cell leukemia.4 Yet how mutations in such ubiquitously expressed proteins result in cell-type and tissue specific defects remains a mystery.5 Here, we show that GATA1 mutations that reduce full-length protein levels of this critical hematopoietic transcription factor can cause DBA in rare instances. We show that ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency, the more common cause of DBA, can similarly reduce translation of GATA1 mRNA - a phenomenon that appears to result from this mRNA having a higher threshold for initiation of translation. In primary hematopoietic cells from patients with RPS19 mutations, a transcriptional signature of GATA1 target genes is globally and specifically reduced, confirming that the activity, but not the mRNA level, of GATA1 is reduced in DBA patients with ribosomal protein mutations. The defective hematopoiesis observed in DBA patients with ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency can be at least partially overcome by increasing GATA1 protein levels. Our results provide a paradigm by which selective defects in translation due to mutations in ubiquitous ribosomal proteins can result in human disease

Altered translation of GATA1 in Diamond-Blackfan anemia

Ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency occurs in diverse human diseases including Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA)[superscript 1, 2], congenital asplenia[superscript 3] and T cell leukemia[superscript 4]. Yet, how mutations in genes encoding ubiquitously expressed proteins such as these result in cell-type– and tissue-specific defects remains unknown[superscript 5]. Here, we identify mutations in GATA1, encoding the critical hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-binding protein-1, that reduce levels of full-length GATA1 protein and cause DBA in rare instances. We show that ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency, the more common cause of DBA, can lead to decreased GATA1 mRNA translation, possibly resulting from a higher threshold for initiation of translation of this mRNA in comparison with other mRNAs. In primary hematopoietic cells from patients with mutations in RPS19, encoding ribosomal protein S19, the amplitude of a transcriptional signature of GATA1 target genes was globally and specifically reduced, indicating that the activity, but not the mRNA level, of GATA1 is decreased in patients with DBA associated with mutations affecting ribosomal proteins. Moreover, the defective hematopoiesis observed in patients with DBA associated with ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency could be partially overcome by increasing GATA1 protein levels. Our results provide a paradigm by which selective defects in translation due to mutations affecting ubiquitous ribosomal proteins can result in human disease.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant P01 HL32262)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant U54 HG003067-09

Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+

The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190 GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared 4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2 is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged; version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange

Dissecting the transcriptional phenotype of ribosomal protein deficiency: implications for Diamond-Blackfan Anemia

Defects in genes encoding ribosomal proteins cause Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA), a red cell aplasia often associated with physical abnormalities. Other bone marrow failure syndromes have been attributed to defects in ribosomal components but the link between erythropoiesis and the ribosome remains to be fully defined. Several lines of evidence suggest that defects in ribosome synthesis lead to "ribosomal stress" with p53 activation and either cell cycle arrest or induction of apoptosis. Pathways independent of p53 have also been proposed to play a role in DBA pathogenesis. We took an unbiased approach to identify p53-independent pathways activated by defects in ribosome synthesis by analyzing global gene expression in various cellular models of DBA. Ranking-Principal Component Analysis (Ranking-PCA) was applied to the identified datasets to determine whether there are common sets of genes whose expression is altered in these different cellular models. We observed consistent changes in the expression of genes involved in cellular amino acid metabolic process, negative regulation of cell proliferation and cell redox homeostasis. These data indicate that cells respond to defects in ribosome synthesis by changing the level of expression of a limited subset of genes involved in critical cellular processes. Moreover, our data support a role for p53-independent pathways in the pathophysiology of DBA