Microwave characteristics of interdigitated photoconductors on a HEMT structure

Interdigitated photoconductive detectors of various geometries were fabricated on AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure material. The processes used in the fabrication of these devices are described, and the results of a study of their optical and electrical characteristics are presented

Microwave characteristics of GaAs MMIC integratable optical detectors

Interdigitated photoconductive detectors were fabricated on microwave device structures, making them easily integratable with Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC). Detector responsivity as high as 2.5 A/W and an external quantum efficiency of 3.81 were measured. Response speed was nearly independent of electrode geometry, and all detectors had usable response at frequencies to 6 GHz. A small signal model of the detectors based on microwave measurements was also developed

Presynchronizing PGF2α and GnRH injections before timed artificial insemination CO-Synch + CIDR program

Fixed-time artificial insemination is an effective management tool that reduces the labor associated with more conventional artificial insemination programs requiring detection of estrus. The 7-day CO-Synch + controlled internal drug release (CIDR) insert protocol has been shown to effectively initiate estrus and ovulation in cycling and non-cycling suckled beef cows, producing pregnancy rates at or greater than 50% in beef cows. The gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) injection that begins the CO-Synch + CIDR program initiates ovulation in a large proportion of cows, particularly anestrous cows. The CIDR, which releases progesterone intravaginally, prevents short estrous cycles that usually follow the first postpartum ovulation in beef cows. Our hypothesis was that inducing estrus with a prostaglandin injection followed 3 days later with a GnRH injection, 7 days before applying the 7-day CO-Synch + CIDR protocol, might increase the percentage of cycling cows that would exhibit synchronous follicular waves after the onset of the CO-Synch + CIDR protocol. We also hypothesized that the additional GnRH injection would increase the percentage of anestrous cows that would ovulate, thereby increasing pregnancy outcomes

What have we already learned from the CMB?

The COBE satellite, and the DMR experiment in particular, was extraordinarily successful. However, the DMR results were announced about 7 years ago, during which time a great deal more has been learned about anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The CMB experiments currently being designed and built, including long-duration balloons, interferometers, and two space missions, promise to address several fundamental cosmological issues. We present our evaluation of what we already know, what we are beginning to learn now, and what the future may bring.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures. Changes to match version accepted by PAS

Saddles in the energy landscape: extensivity and thermodynamic formalism

We formally extend the energy landscape approach for the thermodynamics of liquids to account for saddle points. By considering the extensive nature of macroscopic potential energies, we derive the scaling behavior of saddles with system size, as well as several approximations for the properties of low-order saddles (i.e., those with only a few unstable directions). We then cast the canonical partition function in a saddle-explicit form and develop, for the first time, a rigorous energy landscape approach capable of reproducing trends observed in simulations, in particular the temperature dependence of the energy and fractional order of sampled saddles.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

An optimal ALMA image of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field in the era of JWST: obscured star formation and the cosmic far-infrared background

We combine archival ALMA data targeting the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) to produce the deepest currently attainable 1-mm maps of this key, extragalactic survey field. Combining all existing data in Band 6, our deepest map covers 4.2arcmin^2, with a beamsize of 1.49"x1.07" at an effective frequency of 243GHz (1.23mm). It reaches an rms of 4.6uJy/beam, with 1.5arcmin^2 below 9.0uJy/beam, an improvement of >5% over the best previously published map and 50% improvement in some regions. We also make a wider, but shallower map, covering 25.4arcmin^2. We detect 45 galaxies in the deep map down to 3.6sigma, including 10 more 1-mm sources than previously detected. 38 of these galaxies have a JWST ID from the JADES NIRCam imaging and the new sources are typically faint and red. A stacking analysis on the positions of ALMA-undetected JADES galaxies yields detections for z<4 and stellar masses from 10^(8.4) to 10^(10.4)Msun, extracting 10% of additional stacked signal from our map compared to previous analyses. Detected sources and stacking contribute (10.0+/-0.5)Jy/deg^2 of the cosmic infrared background (CIB) at 1.23mm. Although this is short of the (uncertain) background level of about 20Jy/deg^2, after taking into account intrinsic fluctuations in the CIB, our measurement is consistent with the background if the HUDF is a mild (~2sigma) negative fluctuation. This suggests that within the HUDF, JWST may have detected essentially all of the galaxies that contribute to the CIB. Our stacking analysis predicts that the field contains around 60 additional galaxies with 1.23mm flux densities averaging around 15uJy, and over 300 galaxies at the few uJy level. However, the contribution of these fainter more modestly-obscured objects to the background is small, and converging, as anticipated from the now well-established strong correlation between galaxy stellar mass and obscured star formation.Comment: Submitted to MNRA

CD4 intragenic SNPs associate with HIV-2 plasma viral load and CD4 count in a community-based study from Guinea-Bissau, West Africa.

OBJECTIVES: The human genetics of HIV-2 infection and disease progression is understudied. Therefore, we studied the effect of variation in 2 genes that encode products critical to HIV pathogenesis and disease progression: CD4 and CD209. DESIGN: This cross-sectional study consisted of 143 HIV-2, 30 HIV-1 + HIV-2 and 29 HIV-1-infected subjects and 194 uninfected controls recruited from rural Guinea-Bissau. METHODS: We genotyped 14 CD4 and 4 CD209 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were tested for association with HIV infection, HIV-2 plasma viral load (high vs. low), and CD4 T-cell count (high vs. low). RESULTS: The most significant association was between a CD4 haplotype rs11575097-rs10849523 and high viral load [odds ratio (OR): = 2.37, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.35 to 4.19, P = 0.001, corrected for multiple testing], suggesting increased genetic susceptibility to HIV-2 disease progression for individuals carrying the high-risk haplotype. Significant associations were also observed at a CD4 SNP (rs2255301) with HIV-2 infection (OR: = 2.36, 95% CI: 1.19 to 4.65, P = 0.01) and any HIV infection (OR: = 2.50, 95% CI: 1.34 to 4.69, P = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Our results support a role of CD4 polymorphisms in HIV-2 infection, in agreement with recent data showing that CD4 gene variants increase risk to HIV-1 in Kenyan female sex workers. These findings indicate at least some commonality in HIV-1 and HIV-2 susceptibility

Whole-Body Vibration Alleviates Symptoms of Morphine Withdrawal

Whole-body vibration at 80 Hz has previously been shown to blunt neuropathological markers and behavioral symptoms of alcohol dependence. Here, we evaluate its ability to ameliorate symptoms of morphine use and withdrawal. Behavioral and neurophysiological symptoms of withdrawal were reduced significantly by whole-body vibration treatment