Active and passive multispectral scanner for earth resources applications: An advanced applications flight experiment

The development of an experimental airborne multispectral scanner to provide both active (laser illuminated) and passive (solar illuminated) data from a commonly registered surface scene is discussed. The system was constructed according to specifications derived in an initial programs design study. The system was installed in an aircraft and test flown to produce illustrative active and passive multi-spectral imagery. However, data was not collected nor analyzed for any specific application

A unified view of some representations of imprecise probabilities

International audienceSeveral methods for the practical representation of imprecise probabilities exist such as Ferson's p-boxes, possibility distributions, Neumaier's clouds, and random sets . In this paper some relationships existing between the four kinds of representations are discussed. A cloud as well as a p-box can be modelled as a pair of possibility distributions. We show that a generalized form of p-box is a special kind of belief function and also a special kind of cloud

Early transformation of the Chinese power sector to avoid additional coal lock-in

Emission reduction from the coal-dominated power sector is vital for achieving China's carbon mitigation targets. Although the coal expansion has been slowed down due to the cancellation of and delay in new construction, coal-based power was responsible for over one third of China's energy-related CO2 emissions by 2018. Moreover, with a technical lifetime of over 30 years, current investment in coal-based power could hinder CO2 mitigation until 2050. Therefore, it is important to examine whether the current coal-based power planning aligns with the long-term climate targets. This paper introduces China's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals and an ambitious carbon budget along with global pathways well-below 2 degrees that are divided into five integrated assessment models, which are two national and three global models. We compare the models' results with bottom-up data on current capacity additions and expansion plans to examine if the NDC targets are in line with 2-degree pathways. The key findings are: 1. NDC goals alone are unlikely to lead to significant reductions in coal-based power generation. On the contrary, more plants may be built before 2030; 2. this would require an average of 187–261 TWh of annual coal-based power capacity reduction between 2030 and 2050 to achieve a 2 °C compatible trajectory, which would lead to the stranding of large-scale coal-based power plants; 3. if the reduction in coal power can be brought forward to 2020, the average annual coal-based power reduction required would be 104–155 TWh from 2020 to 2050 and the emissions could peak earlier; 4. early regulations in coal-based power would require accelerated promotion of alternatives between 2020 and 2030, with nuclear, wind and solar power expected to be the most promising alternatives. By presenting the stranding risk and viability of alternatives, we suggest that both the government and enterprises should remain cautious about making new investment in coal-based power sector

Differentiation of ventricular tachycardia from ventricular fibrillation using intraventricular electrogram morphology

Implantable antitachycardia devices are now capable of providing "ramp" therapy including antitachycardia pacing and low- and high-energy cardioversion for sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) in addition to defibrillation of ventricular fibrillation (VF).1,2 Appropriate therapy, however, is dependent on correct identification of VT and VF. Because of variations in ventricular electrographic amplitude during VF, currently implanted devices are unable to consistently detect consecutive ventricular depolarizations during VF.3 As a result, the rate criteria for VF detection may sometimes overlap with the rate criteria used for VT detection. Morphologic analysis of intracavitary ventricular electrograms using correlation waveform analysis has been demonstrated in previous studies to be effective in discriminating normal sinus rhythm from VT, paroxysmal bundle branch block of supraventricular origin, and retrograde atrial activation. 4,7 Whether VF is distinguishable from sinus rhythm and VT with a similar method has not been determined. This study examined whether VT and VF can be distinguishable from sinus rhythm and from each other by correlation waveform analysis of intracavitary ventricular electrograms.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29843/1/0000190.pd

Economic tools to promote transparency and comparability in the Paris Agreement

The Paris Agreement culminates a six-year transition towards an international climate policy architecture based on parties submitting national pledges every five years1. An important policy task will be to assess and compare these contributions2, 3. We use four integrated assessment models to produce metrics of Paris Agreement pledges, and show differentiated effort across countries: wealthier countries pledge to undertake greater emission reductions with higher costs. The pledges fall in the lower end of the distributions of the social cost of carbon and the cost-minimizing path to limiting warming to 2 °C, suggesting insufficient global ambition in light of leaders’ climate goals. Countries’ marginal abatement costs vary by two orders of magnitude, illustrating that large efficiency gains are available through joint mitigation efforts and/or carbon price coordination. Marginal costs rise almost proportionally with income, but full policy costs reveal more complex regional patterns due to terms of trade effects

Remodeling of the fibrillation pathway of α-synuclein by interaction with antimicrobial peptide LL-III

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) has emerged as a key mechanism for intracellular organization, and many recent studies have provided important insights into the role of LLPS in cell biology. There is also evidence that LLPS is associated with a variety of medical conditions, including neurodegenerative disorders. Pathological aggregation of α-synuclein, which is causally linked to Parkinson's disease, can proceed via droplet condensation, which then gradually transitions to the amyloid state. We show that the antimicrobial peptide LL-III is able to interact with both monomers and condensates of α-synuclein, leading to stabilization of the droplet and preventing conversion to the fibrillar state. The anti-aggregation activity of LL-III was also confirmed in a cellular model. We anticipate that studying the interaction of antimicrobial-type peptides with liquid condensates such as α-synuclein will contribute to the understanding of disease mechanisms (that arise in such condensates) and may also open up exciting new avenues for intervention

Experimental determination of the complete spin structure for anti-proton + proton -> anti-\Lambda + \Lambda at anti-proton beam momentum of 1.637 GeV/c

The reaction anti-proton + proton -> anti-\Lambda + \Lambda -> anti-proton + \pi^+ + proton + \pi^- has been measured with high statistics at anti-proton beam momentum of 1.637 GeV/c. The use of a transversely-polarized frozen-spin target combined with the self-analyzing property of \Lambda/anti-\Lambda decay allows access to unprecedented information on the spin structure of the interaction. The most general spin-scattering matrix can be written in terms of eleven real parameters for each bin of scattering angle, each of these parameters is determined with reasonable precision. From these results all conceivable spin-correlations are determined with inherent self-consistency. Good agreement is found with the few previously existing measurements of spin observables in anti-proton + proton -> anti-\Lambda + \Lambda near this energy. Existing theoretical models do not give good predictions for those spin-observables that had not been previously measured.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. C. Tables of results (i.e. Ref. 24) are available at http://www-meg.phys.cmu.edu/~bquinn/ps185_pub/results.tab 24 pages, 16 figure

Measurement of Spin Transfer Observables in Antiproton-Proton -> Antilambda-Lambda at 1.637 GeV/c

Spin transfer observables for the strangeness-production reaction Antiproton-Proton -> Antilambda-Lambda have been measured by the PS185 collaboration using a transversely-polarized frozen-spin target with an antiproton beam momentum of 1.637 GeV/c at the Low Energy Antiproton Ring at CERN. This measurement investigates observables for which current models of the reaction near threshold make significantly differing predictions. Those models are in good agreement with existing measurements performed with unpolarized particles in the initial state. Theoretical attention has focused on the fact that these models produce conflicting predictions for the spin-transfer observables D_{nn} and K_{nn}, which are measurable only with polarized target or beam. Results presented here for D_{nn} and K_{nn} are found to be in disagreement with predictions from existing models. These results also underscore the importance of singlet-state production at backward angles, while current models predict complete or near-complete triplet-state dominance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Economic damages from on-going climate change imply deeper near-term emission cuts

Pathways toward limiting global warming to well below 2 ∘C, as used by the IPCC in the Fifth Assessment Report, do not consider the climate impacts already occurring below 2 ∘C. Here we show that accounting for such damages significantly increases the near-term ambition of transformation pathways. We use econometric estimates of climate damages on GDP growth and explicitly model the uncertainty in the persistence time of damages. The Integrated Assessment Model we use includes the climate system and mitigation technology detail required to derive near-term policies. We find an optimal carbon price of $115 per tonne of CO2 in 2030. The long-term persistence of damages, while highly uncertain, is a main driver of the near-term carbon price. Accounting for damages on economic growth increases the gap between the currently pledged nationally determined contributions and the welfare-optimal 2030 emissions by two thirds, compared to pathways considering the 2 ∘C limit only