In-Space technology experiments program. A high efficiency thermal interface (using condensation heat transfer) between a 2-phase fluid loop and heatpipe radiator: Experiment definition phase

Space Station elements and advanced military spacecraft will require rejection of tens of kilowatts of waste heat. Large space radiators and two-phase heat transport loops will be required. To minimize radiator size and weight, it is critical to minimize the temperature drop between the heat source and sink. Under an Air Force contract, a unique, high-performance heat exchanger is developed for coupling the radiator to the transport loop. Since fluid flow through the heat exchanger is driven by capillary forces which are easily dominated by gravity forces in ground testing, it is necessary to perform microgravity thermal testing to verify the design. This contract consists of an experiment definition phase leading to a preliminary design and cost estimate for a shuttle-based flight experiment of this heat exchanger design. This program will utilize modified hardware from a ground test program for the heat exchanger

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

The LHCb upgrade I

The LHCb upgrade represents a major change of the experiment. The detectors have been almost completely renewed to allow running at an instantaneous luminosity five times larger than that of the previous running periods. Readout of all detectors into an all-software trigger is central to the new design, facilitating the reconstruction of events at the maximum LHC interaction rate, and their selection in real time. The experiment's tracking system has been completely upgraded with a new pixel vertex detector, a silicon tracker upstream of the dipole magnet and three scintillating fibre tracking stations downstream of the magnet. The whole photon detection system of the RICH detectors has been renewed and the readout electronics of the calorimeter and muon systems have been fully overhauled. The first stage of the all-software trigger is implemented on a GPU farm. The output of the trigger provides a combination of totally reconstructed physics objects, such as tracks and vertices, ready for final analysis, and of entire events which need further offline reprocessing. This scheme required a complete revision of the computing model and rewriting of the experiment's software

Accuracy assessment of global land cover maps: lessons learnt from the GlobCover and GlobCorine experiences

The validation of global land cover products becomes a critical and challenging issue as more global products are made available more regularly to the international community. The GlobCover 2005 product delivered in 2008 was the first global land cover product at 300 m resolution. Later on, the MODIS 500 m land cover product has been released in 2009 while the GlobCover 2009 is expected to be achieved as soon as early 2009. The GlobCover 2005 accuracy assessment was the first global exercise implemented according to the CEOS Land Product Validation group recommendations in order to assess the thematic accuracy of the 22 different land cover types described using the UN Land Cover Classification System (LCCS). The validation process consisted in three main steps: the reference data sources, the sampling strategy and the accuracy assessment. A specific working environment for on-screen collection of 'ground truth'data has been used by 16 international experts invited for 6 different 5-day workshops. Using web mapping capabilities like Google Earth, Virtual Earth and others as well as 8 years NDVI profiles, the experts were able to characterize more than 4000 validation points using the LCCS classifiers. This validation exercise has been repeated for the GlobCover 2009 product. The same set of experts were asked to confirm their land cover interpretation and possibly, to update their own interpretation from 2005 to 2009. This second set of validation points as well as those submitted to the interpretation of two different experts, allow studying the reference information consistency and quality over a large data set. Moreover, the GlobCorine 2005 product was also analysed with regards to the CORINE Land Cover product for further understanding. The research question of this paper is to investigate why the three last global land cover assessments, i.e. GLC2000, GlobCover, MODIS Collection 5 land cover product, varies from 68% to 74 % as overall accuracy figure. What is the level of legend providing the best accuracy? Is there a natural limit around 75 % of overall accuracy related to the quality of the reference data set? The results of this in-depth analysis are described and the lessons learnt from these global validation exercises are described to support any forthcoming global product validation plan. Furthermore, these results document the practical meaning of a global product overall accuracy figure from an end-user point of view

Targeting MYC dependence in cancer by inhibiting BET bromodomains

The MYC transcription factor is a master regulator of diverse cellular functions and has been long considered a compelling therapeutic target because of its role in a range of human malignancies. However, pharmacologic inhibition of MYC function has proven challenging because of both the diverse mechanisms driving its aberrant expression and the challenge of disrupting protein–DNA interactions. Here, we demonstrate the rapid and potent abrogation of MYC gene transcription by representative small molecule inhibitors of the BET family of chromatin adaptors. MYC transcriptional suppression was observed in the context of the natural, chromosomally translocated, and amplified gene locus. Inhibition of BET bromodomain–promoter interactions and subsequent reduction of MYC transcript and protein levels resulted in G1 arrest and extensive apoptosis in a variety of leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. Exogenous expression of MYC from an artificial promoter that is resistant to BET regulation significantly protected cells from cell cycle arrest and growth suppression by BET inhibitors. MYC suppression was accompanied by deregulation of the MYC transcriptome, including potent reactivation of the p21 tumor suppressor. Treatment with a BET inhibitor resulted in significant antitumor activity in xenograft models of Burkitt's lymphoma and acute myeloid leukemia. These findings demonstrate that pharmacologic inhibition of MYC is achievable through targeting BET bromodomains. Such inhibitors may have clinical utility given the widespread pathogenetic role of MYC in cancer