WINDOW: A computer program for planning astronomical observations

A FORTRAN computer program called WINDOW was written to simplify the planning of astronomical observations of a number of objects in a limited time. The program lists the azimuths at 15 minute intervals of up to 20 objects while they are in a given range of elevation angles - the window - and gives the elevation angle of each object at its time of transit. This work was motivated by the need to use observing time efficiently on flights of NASA-Ames' Lear Jet and C-141 observatories; WINDOW permits the investigator to prepare preliminary flight plans. However, the program is suited to planning ground-based observations as well. The program and a sample flight plan are described

Evaluation of image quality in a Cassegrain-type telescope with an oscillating secondary mirror

A ray-trace analysis is described of aberrations and extreme rays of a Cassegrain-type telescope with a tilted secondary mirror. The work was motivated by the need to understand the factors limiting image quality and to assist in the design of secondary mirrors for three telescopes with oscillating secondary mirrors (OSM) used at Ames Research Center for high altitude infrared astronomy. The telescopes are a 31-cm-diameter Dall-Kirkham (elliptical primary, spherical secondary) flown aboard a Lear jet, a 71-cm balloon-borne Dall-Kirkham flown on the AIROscope gondola, and a 91-cm true Cassegrain (parabolic primary, hyperbolic secondary) flown aboard a C-141 jet transport. The optics for these telescopes were not designed specifically for OSM operation, but all have OSM's and all must be used with various detector configurations; therefore, a facility that evaluates the performance of a telescope for a given configuration is useful. The analytical expressions are summarized and results for the above systems are discussed. Details of the calculation and a discussion of the computer program are given in the appendices

Analytical calculation of the areas of Saturn's disk and rings

The area of the visible disk, the area of the ansae (visible rings not overlapping the disk), and the area of overlap (visible rings overlapping the disk) were analytically determined to account for the thermal emission from the rings. These parameters were available in the ephemeris

Estimating An Optimal Backpropagation Algorithm for Training An ANN with the EGFR Exon 19 Nucleotide Sequence: An Electronic Diagnostic Basis for Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer(NSCLC)

One of the most common forms of medical malpractices globally is an error in diagnosis. An improper diagnosis occurs when a doctor fails to identify a disease or report a disease when the patient is actually healthy. A disease that is commonly misdiagnosed is lung cancer. This cancer type is a major health problem internationally because it is responsible for 15% of all cancer diagnosis and 29% of all cancer deaths. The two major sub-types of lung cancer are; small cell lung cancer (about 13%) and non-small cell lung cancer (%SCLC- about 87%). The chance of surviving lung cancer depends on its correct diagnosis and/or the stage at the time it is diagnosed. However, recent studies have identified somatic mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene in a subset of non-small cell lung cancer (%SCLC) tumors. These mutations occur in the tyrosine kinase domain of the gene. The most predominant of the mutations in all %SCLC patients examined is deletion mutation in exon 19 and it accounts for approximately 90% of the EGFR-activating mutations. This makes EGFR genomic sequence a good candidate for implementing an electronic diagnostic system for %SCLC. In this study aimed at estimating an optimum backpropagation training algorithm for a genomic based A%% system for %SCLC diagnosis, the nucleotide sequences of EGFR’s exon 19 of a noncancerous cell were used to train an artificial neural network (A%%). Several A%% back propagation training algorithms were tested in MATLAB R2008a to obtain an optimal algorithm for training the network. Of the nine different algorithms tested, we achieved the best performance (i.e. the least mean square error) with the minimum epoch (training iterations) and training time using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm

Managing and Improving Upon Bandwidth Challenges in Computer Network

Managing the bandwidth of a computer network is always faced with great challenges. This research was necessitated by the urgent need to manage the University network currently experiencing congestion in both the local LA� and on the internet backhaul with a view to improving network performance and reduce the huge recurrent on the WA� link. However, there exists various ways that have been deployed towards solving these problems. In this paper we examined existing bandwidth management, effect of limited bandwidth on the network performance and profound solutions of techniques that enhanced or improved the bandwidth efficiency. Also, included in this research work are the studies of the effect of limited bandwidth on work load, type of protocol used and the effect of network congestion on the quality of service of a Wide Area �etwork (WA�). By comparison, from the modeling of the effect of work load and limited bandwidth on the throughput of a wide area network based on experimental simulation and real time simulation scenarios, some observations were made and recommendation of solutions were given from the analyzed results

Multiprotein DNA looping

DNA looping plays a fundamental role in a wide variety of biological processes, providing the backbone for long range interactions on DNA. Here we develop the first model for DNA looping by an arbitrarily large number of proteins and solve it analytically in the case of identical binding. We uncover a switch-like transition between looped and unlooped phases and identify the key parameters that control this transition. Our results establish the basis for the quantitative understanding of fundamental cellular processes like DNA recombination, gene silencing, and telomere maintenance.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Recent Experiments with Bose-Condensed Gases at JILA

We consider a binary mixture of two overlapping Bose-Einstein condensates in two different hyperfine states of \Rb87 with nearly identical magnetic moments. Such a system has been simply realized through application of radiofrequency and microwave radiation which drives a two-photon transition between the two states. The nearly identical magnetic moments afford a high degree of spatial overlap, permitting a variety of new experiments. We discuss some of the conditions under which the magnetic moments are identical, with particular emphasis placed on the requirements for a time-averaged orbiting potential (TOP) magnetic trap.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; corrected post-publication editio

Extremely red objects in the fields of high redshift radio galaxies

We are engaged in a program of infrared imaging photometry of high redshift radio galaxies. The observations are being done using NICMOS2 and NICMOS3 arrays on the DuPont 100-inch telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. In addition, Persson and Matthews are measuring the spectral energy distributions of normal cluster galaxies in the redshift range 0 to 1. These measurements are being done with a 58 x 62 InSb array on the Palomar 5-m telescope. During the course of these observations we have imaged roughly 20 square arcminutes of sky to limiting magnitudes greater than 20 in the J, H, and K passbands (3 sigma in 3 square arcseconds). We have detected several relatively bright, extremely red, extended objects during the course of this work. Because the radio galaxy program requires Thuan-Gunn gri photometry, we are able to construct rough photometric energy distributions for many of the objects. A sample of the galaxy magnitudes within 4 arcseconds diameter is given. All the detections are real; either the objects show up at several wavelengths, or in subsets of the data. The reddest object in the table, 9ab'B' was found in a field of galaxies in a rich cluster at z = 0.4; 9ab'A' lies 8 arcseconds from it