3,277 research outputs found
Concurrent congenital peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia and bochdalek hernia in a neonate
We present the first report of a neonate with, concurrent left sided Bochdalek hernia and peritoneopericardial diaphragmatic hernia
Polarized radio emission from the magnetar XTE J1810-197
We have used the Parkes radio telescope to study the polarized emission from
the anomalous X-ray pulsar XTE J1810-197 at frequencies of 1.4, 3.2, and 8.4
GHz. We find that the pulsed emission is nearly 100% linearly polarized. The
position angle of linear polarization varies gently across the observed pulse
profiles, varying little with observing frequency or time, even as the pulse
profiles have changed dramatically over a period of 7 months. In the context of
the standard pulsar "rotating vector model," there are two possible
interpretations of the observed position angle swing coupled with the wide
profile. In the first, the magnetic and rotation axes are substantially
misaligned and the emission originates high in the magnetosphere, as seen for
other young radio pulsars, and the beaming fraction is large. In the second
interpretation, the magnetic and rotation axes are nearly aligned and the line
of sight remains in the emission zone over almost the entire pulse phase. We
deprecate this possibility because of the observed large modulation of thermal
X-ray flux. We have also measured the Faraday rotation caused by the Galactic
magnetic field, RM = +77 rad/m^2, implying an average magnetic field component
along the line of sight of 0.5 microG.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. Six pages with 4 figure
Optical Pulse-Phased Photopolarimetry of PSR B0656+14
We have observed the optical pulse profile of PSR B0656+14 in 10 phase bins
at a high signal-to-noise ratio, and have measured the linear polarization
profile over 30% of the pulsar period with some significance. The pulse profile
is double-peaked, with a bridge of emission between the two peaks, similar to
gamma-ray profiles observed in other pulsars. There is no detectable unpulsed
flux, to a 1-sigma limit of 16% of the pulse-averaged flux. The emission in the
bridge is highly (~ 100%) polarized, with a position angle sweep in excellent
agreement with the prediction of the Rotating Vector Model as determined from
radio polarization observations. We are able to account for the gross features
of the optical light curve (i.e., the phase separation of the peaks) using both
polar cap and outer gap models. Using the polar cap model, we are also able to
estimate the height of the optical emission regions.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures, accepted by ApJ (scheduled v597 n2, November
10, 2003
A High Galactic Latitude HI 21cm-line Absorption Survey using the GMRT: I. Observations and Spectra
We have used the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to measure the
Galactic HI 21-cm line absorption towards 102 extragalactic radio continuum
sources, located at high (|b| >15deg.) Galactic latitudes. The Declination
coverage of the present survey is Decl. ~ -45deg.. With a mean rms optical
depth of ~0.003, this is the most sensitive Galactic HI 21-cm line absorption
survey to date. To supplement the absorption data, we have extracted the HI
21-cm line emission profiles towards these 102 lines of sight from the Leiden
Dwingeloo Survey of Galactic neutral hydrogen. We have carried out a Gaussian
fitting analysis to identify the discrete absorption and emission components in
these profiles. In this paper, we present the spectra and the components. A
subsequent paper will discuss the interpretation of these results.Comment: 46 pages, Accepted for publication in Journal of Astrophysics &
Astronom
Coherently Dedispersed Polarimetry of Millisecond Pulsars
We present a large sample of high-precision, coherently-dedispersed
polarization profiles of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) at frequencies between 410
and 1414 MHz. These data include the first polarimetric observations of several
of the pulsars, and the first low-frequency polarization profiles for others.
Our observations support previous suggestions that the pulse shapes and
polarimetry of MSPs are more complex than those of their slower relatives. An
immediate conclusion is that polarimetry-based classification schemes proposed
for young pulsars are of only limited use when applied to millisecond pulsars.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures. Text matches version that appeared in ApJS.
Full paper with high-resolution figures available at
ftp://ftp.jb.man.ac.uk/pub/psr/papers/msppolpton.ps.g
Disks Surviving the Radiation Pressure of Radio Pulsars
The radiation pressure of a radio pulsar does not necessarily disrupt a
surrounding disk. The position of the inner radius of a thin disk around a
neutron star can be estimated by comparing the electromagnetic energy density
generated by the neutron star with the kinetic energy density of the disk.
Inside the light cylinder, the near zone electromagnetic field is essentially
the dipole magnetic field, and the inner radius is the conventional Alfven
radius. Far outside the light cylinder, in the radiation zone, and the
electromagnetic energy density is where is the
Poynting vector. Shvartsman (1970) argued that a stable equilibrium can not be
found in the radiative zone because the electromagnetic energy density
dominates over the kinetic energy density, with the relative strength of the
electromagnetic stresses increasing with radius. In order to check whether this
is true also near the light cylinder, we employ global electromagnetic field
solutions for rotating oblique magnetic dipoles (Deutsch 1955). Near the light
cylinder the electromagnetic energy density increases steeply enough with
decreasing to balance the kinetic energy density at a stable equilibrium.
The transition from the near zone to the radiation zone is broad. The radiation
pressure of the pulsar can not disrupt the disk for values of the inner radius
up to about twice the light cylinder radius if the rotation axis and the
magnetic axis are orthogonal. This allowed range beyond the light cylinder
extends much further for small inclination angles. We discuss implications of
this result for accretion driven millisecond pulsars and young neutron stars
with fallback disks.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal, final version with a minor
correctio
Neural networks embrace learned diversity
Diversity conveys advantages in nature, yet homogeneous neurons typically
comprise the layers of artificial neural networks. Here we construct neural
networks from neurons that learn their own activation functions, quickly
diversify, and subsequently outperform their homogeneous counterparts.
Sub-networks instantiate the neurons, which meta-learn especially efficient
sets of nonlinear responses. Such learned diversity provides examples of
dynamical systems selecting diversity over uniformity and elucidates the role
of diversity in natural and artificial systems.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Effects of ageing on the anterior segment of the eye structure and function
[Excerpt] The world will soon have more aged people than children and more people at extreme old age than ever before [1]. Improving quality of life as well as reducing severe disability due to age-related problems has become key for the health systems worldwide. The ageing of the world population has both structural and functional consequences for the human visual system; changes due to ageing occur in all the structures of the eye causing a variety of effects. Over the last few years, great advances in ophthalmic instrumentation allow the determination of ocular parameters to a level of detail without precedent. Such advances allowresearcherstodevelopspecificdevicesforvisualcorrection and rehabilitation and at the same time guide the clinicians in their decision making and selection of treatment options to convey with the increasing demand of highquality outcomes of the ageing population. This special issue aimed at creating a multidisciplinary forum of discussion on recent advances in the knowledge of the effects of ageing in the anterior segment of the human eye’s structure and function, and improvements on early detection, treatment, and prognosis of age-related ocular conditions of the anterior segment. As a result, a remarkable compilation of ten articles cover many of these very different aspects of ocular ageing. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
A novel C-terminal protein degron identified in bacterial aldehyde decarbonylases using directed enzyme evolution
Metabolic engineers have successfully synthesized alkanes, the bulk component of gasoline, using microbial cell factories as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based fuels. Aldehyde decarbonylases (AD), enzymes which transform acyl aldehydes into alkanes, have been identified as the bottleneck in these alkane producing pathways. Previous studies demonstrated degradation of AD in E. coli cells via unknown molecular mechanism. Here, we present the discovery of a degradation tag (degron) in AD from Prochlorococcus marinus. AD variants were generated by random mutation using error-prone PCR, transferred into E. coli, and grown in chemostat culture with 2g/L hexanal to select for positive mutations. A short C-terminal sequence of AD from P. marinus was proven to be an intact degron by fusing to fluorescent proteins. Statistical analysis of C-terminal sequences of 371 non-redundant ADs from bacteria revealed a conserved sequence in this region, which was proven to be an effective degron. We also showed that ATP-dependent proteases clpAP and lon are responsible for the degradation of AD degron tagged protein. Furthermore, our results indicate that the AD degron caused 91.4% of green fluorescent protein (GFP) degradation when fused to its C-terminus, whereas its elimination in AD enhanced alkane production in vivo. Thus, our work demonstrated the presence of a protein degron tag in bacterial ADs, thereby facilitating further improvements in AD-based alkane production pathways.
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Suppression and Enhancement of Soliton Switching During Interaction in Periodically Twisted Birefringent Fiber
Soliton interaction in periodically twisted birefringent optical fibers has
been analysed analytically with refernce to soliton switching. For this purpose
we construct the exact general two-soliton solution of the associated coupled
system and investigate its asymptotic behaviour. Using the results of our
analytical approach we point out that the interaction can be used as a switch
to suppress or to enhance soliton switching dynamics, if one injects
multi-soliton as an input pulse in the periodically twisted birefringent fiber.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, Latex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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