Hepatitis Associated with a Sarcocystis canis–like Protozoan in a Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi)

A Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) died in captivity at the National Marine Fisheries Service, Kewalo Basin Facility in Honolulu, Hawaii. The animal was icteric, and the liver was friable. Microscopic lesions were detected in the colon and liver. Colonic lesions included multifocal, necrohemorrhagic colitis associated with gram-negative bacilli. The liver lesions included random hepatic necrosis and cholestasis. Asexual stages of a Sarcocystis canis–like apicomplexan were detected in hepatocytes. The parasite divided by endopolygeny. Merozoites occasionally formed rosettes around a central residual body. Ultrastructurally, merozoites lacked rhoptries. This is the first report of S. canis infection in M. schauinslandi, which is an endangered pinniped in U.S. waters

Deformed two center shell model

A highly specialized two-center shell model has been developed accounting for the splitting of a deformed parent nucleus into two ellipsoidaly deformed fragments. The potential is based on deformed oscillator wells in direct correspondance with the shape change of the nuclear system. For the first time a potential responsible for the necking part between the fragments is introduced on potential theory basis. As a direct consequence, spin-orbit {\bf ls} and {\bf l$^2$} operators are calculated as shape dependent. Level scheme evolution along the fission path for pairs of ellipsoidaly deformed fragments is calculated. The Strutinsky method yields the shell corrections for different mass asymmetries from the superheavy nucleus $^{306}$122 and $^{252}$Cf all along the splitting process.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figure

The influence of shock pressure, pre-shock temperature, and host rock composition on the survival rate of endolithic microorganisms during impact ejection from Mars

Petrographic and biological analysis of shock recovery experiments confirms the possible life transport due to an impact from Mars to Earth

Carotenoid Raman signatures are better preserved in dried cells of the desert cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis than in hydrated counterparts after high-dose gamma irradiation

Carotenoids are promising targets in our quest to search for life on Mars due to their biogenic origin and easy detection by Raman spectroscopy, especially with a 532 nm excitation thanks to resonance effects. Ionizing radiations reaching the surface and subsurface of Mars are however detrimental for the long-term preservation of biomolecules. We show here that desiccation can protect carotenoid Raman signatures in the desert cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. CCMEE 029 even after high-dose gamma irradiation. Indeed, while the height of the carotenoids Raman peaks was considerably reduced in hydrated cells exposed to gamma irradiation, it remained stable in dried cells irradiated with the highest tested dose of 113 kGy of gamma rays, losing only 15-20% of its non-irradiated intensity. Interestingly, even though the carotenoid Raman signal of hydrated cells lost 90% of its non-irradiated intensity, it was still detectable after exposure to 113 kGy of gamma rays. These results add insights into the preservation potential and detectability limit of carotenoid-like molecules on Mars over a prolonged period of time and are crucial in supporting future missions carrying Raman spectrometers to Mars’ surface

Symmetric Anderson impurity model with a narrow band

The single channel Anderson impurity model is a standard model for the description of magnetic impurities in metallic systems. Usually, the bandwidth represents the largest energy scale of the problem. In this paper, we analyze the limit of a narrow band, which is relevant for the Mott-Hubbard transition in infinite dimensions. For the symmetric model we discuss two different effects: i) The impurity contribution to the density of states at the Fermi surface always turns out to be negative in such systems. This leads to a new crossover in the thermodynamic quantities that we investigate using the numerical renormalization group. ii) Using the Lanczos method, we calculate the impurity spectral function and demonstrate the breakdown of the skeleton expansion on an intermediate energy scale. Luttinger's theorem, as an example of the local Fermi liquid property of the model, is shown to still be valid.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 2 eps figures included, final versio

CASAM: Collaborative Human-machine Annotation of Multimedia.

The CASAM multimedia annotation system implements a model of cooperative annotation between a human annotator and automated components. The aim is that they work asynchronously but together. The system focuses upon the areas where automated recognition and reasoning are most effective and the user is able to work in the areas where their unique skills are required. The system’s reasoning is influenced by the annotations provided by the user and, similarly, the user can see the system’s work and modify and, implicitly, direct it. The CASAM system interacts with the user by providing a window onto the current state of annotation, and by generating requests for information which are important for the final annotation or to constrain its reasoning. The user can modify the annotation, respond to requests and also add their own annotations. The objective is that the human annotator’s time is used more effectively and that the result is an annotation that is both of higher quality and produced more quickly. This can be especially important in circumstances where the annotator has a very restricted amount of time in which to annotate the document. In this paper we describe our prototype system. We expand upon the techniques used for automatically analysing the multimedia document, for reasoning over the annotations generated and for the generation of an effective interaction with the end-user. We also present the results of evaluations undertaken with media professionals in order to validate the approach and gain feedback to drive further research

Dual equivalence in models with higher-order derivatives

We introduce a class of higher-order derivative models in (2,1) space-time dimensions. The models are described by a vector field, and contain a Proca-like mass term which prevents gauge invariance. We use the gauge embedding procedure to generate another class of higher-order derivative models, gauge-invariant and dual to the former class. We show that the results are valid in arbitrary (d,1) space-time dimensions when one discards the Chern-Simons and Chern-Simons-like terms. We also investigate duality at the quantum level, and we show that it is preserved in the quantum scenario. Other results include investigations concerning the gauge embedding approach when the vector field couples with fermionic matter, and when one adds nonlinearity.Comment: RevTex4, 14 pages; new version includes duality at the quantum level, and new references. To be published in J. Phys.