Disk-resolved spectral reflectance properties of Phobos from 0.3-3.2 micron: Preliminary integrated results from Phobos 2

The Phobos 2 mission provided multispectral observations of Phobos over a large wavelength range and with relatively high spectral resolution. Here, researchers integrate results from three multispectral detectors by determining the ultraviolet-visible near infrared spectral properties of color and brightness features recognized in VSK TV images. Researchers present evidence that there are two fundamental spectral units within the region of overlapping coverage by the detectors. They describe the units' spectral and reflectance properties and discuss the implications of these results for the composition of Phobos

Jezero Crater, Mars, as a Compelling Site for Future In Situ Exploration

Jezero is a approximately 45 km diameter impact crater located in the Nili Fossae region of Mars. Jezero is an outstanding site to address key questions of ancient Mars climate, habitability, and volcanic history because: (a) It hosted an open-basin lake during the era of valley network formation [1,2], which ceased at approximately the Noachian-Hesperian boundary [3]. (b) It contains two delta deposits [1,4] with Fe/Mg-smectite and Mg-carbonate sediment [4-7] (the only exposure of lacus-trine shoreline carbonates seen so far on Mars). (c) The depositional environment and mineral assemblage of the delta are promising for the concentration and preservation of organic matter [5,8]. (d) The diverse geologic units in Jezero are in clear stratigraphic context [7]. The Jezero paleolake system has been thoroughly investigated at a variety of scales, including work on: the mineralogy of the delta deposits [4-6] and watershed [7], as well as the morphology and sedimentology of the basin [9] and delta deposits [1,4]. The geologic context of Jezero is also well-studied given the broad suite of alteration minerals exposed in the ancient stratigraphies of the Nili Fossae region [e.g., 6,10-13]. Here we present an overview of the units accessible for exploration in the Jezero basin, including questions and hypotheses that can be tested through analysis in situ and of returned samples. This is particularly timely given the upcoming Mars 2020 mission, for which Jezero is one of the final eight landing sites [14]. Primary science objectives for Mars 2020 are to: (1) characterize the geologic history of a site with "evidence of an astrobiologically-relevant ancient environment and geologic diversity"; (2) assess the habitability and "potential evidence of past life" in units with "high biosignature preservation potential"; and (3) cache scientifically compelling samples for potential return to Earth [15]

Evaluation of a pilot cooperative medical scheme in rural China: impact on gender patterns of health care utilization and prescription practices

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2003 the Chinese government introduced voluntary cooperative medical schemes (CMS), soon to be in place throughout rural China. Families who chose to enroll do so as a single unit and nothing is known about any differential effect of these new schemes on family members. This study evaluates the impact of one pilot CMS in Anhui Province on health care use by girls aged less than 5 years and women 65 years or older, and on the pattern and cost of prescriptions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Health care records were extracted covering a 10 year period, before, during and after the pilot CMS in 4 townships, one with the intervention and 3 comparison townships without. The impact of the intervention on the age and gender distribution of patients presenting for health care and on the prescription of certain drugs was assessed by logistic regression. The cost of prescriptions before, during and after the intervention period was also assessed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>203,058 registration and 643,588 prescription records were identified. During the intervention there was a reduced likelihood overall that a patient was female (OR = 0.92: 95%CI 0.87 - 0.97) at the intervention site. Girls aged < 5 years had an increased likelihood of health care (OR = 1.41: 95%CI 1.23 - 1.59) during the CMS, but women ≥ 65 years were relatively disadvantaged (OR = 0.84: 95%CI 0.75 - 0.95). The use of antibiotics and systemic steroids increased disproportionately at the intervention site for patients ≥ 5 years. Prescription costs at the township hospital also increased at the intervention site, particularly for older men.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This evaluation suggests that all family members did not benefit equally from the pilot CMS and that women ≥ 65 years may be disadvantaged by the newly available reimbursements of health care costs through the CMS. It points to the need, in future evaluations, to use individuals rather than families as the unit of analysis, in order to determine whether such health care inequalities are wide-spread and persistent or are reduced in the longer term. The results also support earlier concerns about the influence of new funding resources on prescription practices and the need for regulation of for-profit prescribing.</p

Mineralogy of the Lunar Crust in Spatial Context: First Results from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)

India's Chandrayaan-1 successfully launched October 22, 2008 and went into lunar orbit a few weeks later. Commissioning of instruments began in late November and was near complete by the end of the year. Initial data for NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) were acquired across the Orientale Basin and the science results are discussed here. M 3 image-cube data provide mineralogy of the surface in geologic context. A major new result is that the existence and distribution of massive amounts of anorthosite as a continuous stratigraphic crustal layer is now irrefutable

Identification of a New Spinel-Rich Lunar Rock Type by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M (sup 3))

The canonical characterization of the lunar crust is based principally on available Apollo, Luna, and meteorite samples. The crust is described as an anorthosite-rich cumulate produced by the lunar magma ocean that has been infused with a mix of Mgsuite components. These have been mixed and redistributed during the late heavy bombardment and basin forming events. We report a new rock-type detected on the farside of the Moon by the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 that does not easily fit with current crustal evolution models. The rock-type is dominated by Mg-spinel with no detectible pyroxene or olivine present (<5%). It occurs along the western inner ring of Moscoviense Basin as one of several discrete areas that exhibit unusual compositions relative to their surroundings but without morphological evidence for separate processes leading to exposure

Mineralogy of volcanic rocks in Gusev Crater, Mars: Reconciling Mössbauer, Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, and Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer spectra

Complete sets of mineral abundances for relatively unaltered volcanic or volcaniclastic rocks in Gusev Crater have been determined by modeling M&ouml;ssbauer subspectral areas as mineral weight percentages, and combining those percentages with the proportions of iron-free minerals not detected by M&ouml;ssbauer (normative plagioclase, apatite, and chromite, as calculated from Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) chemical analyses). Comparisons of synthetic thermal emission spectra calculated for these mineral modes with measured Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) spectra for the same rock classes show either good agreements or discrepancies that we attribute to sodic plagioclase compositions or unmodeled sulfate, glass, or pigeonite. The normative compositions of olivine, pyroxene, and feldspar calculated from APXS data are consistent with spectroscopic constraints on mineral compositions. Systematic variations between olivine abundances in APXS norms (which sample tens of micrometers depth) and olivine proportions measured by M&ouml;ssbauer (which sample hundreds of micrometers depth) support the hypothesis that dissolution of olivine by acidic fluids has occurred on weathered rock surfaces

Character and spatial distribution of OH/H<SUB>2</SUB>O on the surface of the moon seen by M<SUP>3</SUP> on Chandrayaan-1

The search for water on the surface of the anhydrous Moon had remained an unfulfilled quest for 40 years. However, the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1 has recently detected absorption features near 2.8 to 3.0 micrometers on the surface of the Moon. For silicate bodies, such features are typically attributed to hydroxyl- and/or water-bearing materials. On the Moon, the feature is seen as a widely distributed absorption that appears strongest at cooler high latitudes and at several fresh feldspathic craters. The general lack of correlation of this feature in sunlit M3 data with neutron spectrometer hydrogen abundance data suggests that the formation and retention of hydroxyl and water are ongoing surficial processes. Hydroxyl/water production processes may feed polar cold traps and make the lunar regolith a candidate source of volatiles for human exploration

Roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in appetitive and aversive memory recall in an insect

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In insect classical conditioning, octopamine (the invertebrate counterpart of noradrenaline) or dopamine has been suggested to mediate reinforcing properties of appetitive or aversive unconditioned stimulus, respectively. However, the roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in memory recall have remained unclear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We studied the roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in appetitive and aversive memory recall in olfactory and visual conditioning in crickets. We found that pharmacological blockade of octopamine and dopamine receptors impaired aversive memory recall and appetitive memory recall, respectively, thereby suggesting that activation of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons and the resulting release of octopamine and dopamine are needed for appetitive and aversive memory recall, respectively. On the basis of this finding, we propose a new model in which it is assumed that two types of synaptic connections are formed by conditioning and are activated during memory recall, one type being connections from neurons representing conditioned stimulus to neurons inducing conditioned response and the other being connections from neurons representing conditioned stimulus to octopaminergic or dopaminergic neurons representing appetitive or aversive unconditioned stimulus, respectively. The former is called 'stimulus-response connection' and the latter is called 'stimulus-stimulus connection' by theorists studying classical conditioning in higher vertebrates. Our model predicts that pharmacological blockade of octopamine or dopamine receptors during the first stage of second-order conditioning does not impair second-order conditioning, because it impairs the formation of the stimulus-response connection but not the stimulus-stimulus connection. The results of our study with a cross-modal second-order conditioning were in full accordance with this prediction.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We suggest that insect classical conditioning involves the formation of two kinds of memory traces, which match to stimulus-stimulus connection and stimulus-response connection. This is the first study to suggest that classical conditioning in insects involves, as does classical conditioning in higher vertebrates, the formation of stimulus-stimulus connection and its activation for memory recall, which are often called cognitive processes.</p

Evidence for mechanical and chemical alteration of iron‐nickel meteorites on Mars: Process insights for Meridiani Planum

The weathering of meteorites found on Mars involves chemical and physical processes that can provide clues to climate conditions at the location of their discovery. Beginning on sol 1961, the Opportunity rover encountered three large iron meteorites within a few hundred meters of each other. In order of discovery, these rocks have been assigned the unofficial names Block Island, Shelter Island, and Mackinac Island. Each rock presents a unique but complimentary set of features that increase our understanding of weathering processes at Meridiani Planum. Significant morphologic characteristics interpretable as weathering features include (1) a large pit in Block Island, lined with delicate iron protrusions suggestive of inclusion removal by corrosive interaction; (2) differentially eroded kamacite and taenite lamellae in Block Island and Shelter Island, providing relative timing through crosscutting relationships with deposition of (3) an iron oxide&ndash;rich dark coating; (4) regmaglypted surfaces testifying to regions of minimal surface modification, with other regions in the same meteorites exhibiting (5) large‐scale, cavernous weathering (in Shelter Island and Mackinac Island). We conclude that the current size of the rocks is approximate to their original postfall contours. Their morphology thus likely results from a combination of atmospheric interaction and postfall weathering effects. Among our specific findings is evidence supporting (1) at least one possible episode of aqueous acidic exposure for Block Island; (2) ripple migration over portions of the meteorites; (3) a minimum of two separate episodes of wind abrasion; alternating with (4) at least one episode of coating‐forming chemical alteration, most likely at subzero temperatures