30,280 research outputs found
A system overview of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)
The AVIRIS instrument has been designed to do high spectral resolution remote sensing of the Earth. Utilizing both silicon and indium antimonide line array detectors, AVIRIS covers the spectral region from 0.41 to 2.45 microns in 10-nm bands. It was designed to fly aboard NASA's U-2 and ER-2 aircraft, where it will simulate the performance of future spacecraft instrumentation. Flying at an altitude of 20 km, it has an instantaneous field of view of 20 m and views a swath over 10 km wide. With an ability to record 40 minutes of data, it can, during a single flight, capture 500 km of flight line
Hadronic Gamma Rays from Supernova Remnants
A gas cloud near a supernova remnant (SNR) provides a target for
pp-collisions leading to subsequent gamma-ray emission through neutral pion
decay. The assumption of a power-law ambient spectrum of accelerated particles
with index near -2 is usually built into models predicting the spectra of
very-high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission from SNRs. However, if the gas cloud
is located at some distance from the SNR shock, this assumption is not
necessarily correct. In this case, the particles which interact with the cloud
are those leaking from the shock and their spectrum is approximately
monoenergetic with the injection energy gradually decreasing as the SNR ages.
In the GLAST energy range the gamma-ray spectrum resulting from particle
interactions with the gas cloud will be flatter than expected, with the cutoff
defined by the pion momentum distribution in the laboratory frame. We evaluate
the flux of particles escaping from a SNR shock and apply the results to the
VHE diffuse emission detected by the HESS at the Galactic centre.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the 30th ICRC, Merida, Mexico,
2007 (final version
Monomial integrals on the classical groups
This paper presents a powerfull method to integrate general monomials on the
classical groups with respect to their invariant (Haar) measure. The method has
first been applied to the orthogonal group in [J. Math. Phys. 43, 3342 (2002)],
and is here used to obtain similar integration formulas for the unitary and the
unitary symplectic group. The integration formulas turn out to be of similar
form. They are all recursive, where the recursion parameter is the number of
column (row) vectors from which the elements in the monomial are taken. This is
an important difference to other integration methods. The integration formulas
are easily implemented in a computer algebra environment, which allows to
obtain analytical expressions very efficiently. Those expressions contain the
matrix dimension as a free parameter.Comment: 16 page
The art of HIV elimination: past and present science
Introduction: Remarkable strides have been made in controlling the HIV epidemic, although not enough to achieve epidemic control. More recently, interest in biomedical HIV control approaches has increased, but substantial challenges with the HIV cascade of care hinder successful implementation. We summarise all available HIV prevention methods and make recommendations on how to address current challenges.
Discussion: In the early days of the epidemic, behavioural approaches to control the HIV dominated, and the few available evidence-based interventions demonstrated to reduce HIV transmission were applied independently from one another. More recently, it has become clear that combination prevention strategies targeted to high transmission geographies and people at most risk of infections are required to achieve epidemic control. Biomedical strategies such as male medical circumcision and antiretroviral therapy for treatment in HIV-positive individuals and as preexposure prophylaxis in HIV-negative individuals provide immense promise for the future of HIV control. In resourcerich settings, the threat of HIV treatment optimism resulting in increased sexual risk taking has been observed and there are concerns that as ART roll-out matures in resource-poor settings and the benefits of ART become clearly visible, behavioural disinhibition may also become a challenge in those settings. Unfortunately, an efficacious vaccine, a strategy which could potentially halt the HIV epidemic, remains elusive.
Conclusion: Combination HIV prevention offers a logical approach to HIV control, although what and how the available options should be combined is contextual. Therefore, knowledge of the local or national drivers of HIV infection is paramount. Problems with the HIV care continuum remain of concern, hindering progress towards the UNAIDS target of 90-90-90 by 2020. Research is needed on combination interventions that address all the steps of the cascade as the steps are not independent of each other. Until these issues are addressed, HIV elimination may remain an unattainable goal
A percutaneous needle biopsy technique for sampling the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue depot of humans.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has been proposed as a potential target tissue against obesity and its related metabolic complications. Although the molecular and functional characteristics of BAT have been intensively studied in rodents, only a few studies have used human BAT specimens due to the difficulty of sampling human BAT deposits. We established a novel positron emission tomography and computed tomography-guided Bergström needle biopsy technique to acquire human BAT specimens from the supraclavicular area in human subjects. Forty-three biopsies were performed on 23 participants. The procedure was tolerated well by the majority of participants. No major complications were noted. Numbness (9.6%) and hematoma (2.3%) were the two minor complications noted, which fully resolved. Thus, the proposed biopsy technique can be considered safe with only minimal risk of adverse events. Adoption of the proposed method is expected to increase the sampling of the supraclavicular BAT depot for research purposes so as to augment the scientific knowledge of the biology of human BAT
Happiness, environmental protection and market economy
The manufacturing sector is leaving the West for Asia’s low wages and good working culture. Europe would be better off keeping these manufacturing activities, slowing down wage inflation and what is more, letting a young, cheaper workforce from the East settle down within their borders. This would aid in preserving the diverse economic structure which has been characteristic for Europe.Beside the economic growth there are two more concepts which have turned into the “holy cows” of economics during the last fifty years. One is the need to constantly improve labor productivity and the other is increasing competitiveness of nations. The high labor productivity of some countries, induces severe unemployment in the globalized world. In the other hand it is high time we understood that it is not competition, but cooperation that brings more happiness to humanity.Should we still opt for “happiness” and “sanity”, it is quite obvious that we all should, in economists’ terms, define our individual welfare functions corresponding to our own set of values, staying free from the influence of media, advertisements and fashion. The cornerstone to all this is the intelligent citizen who prefers local goods and services
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