UV camera conceptual designs for TMT Fiber WFOS

This paper discusses refractive, reflective and catadioptric designs for the Thirty Meter Telescope Fiber Wide Field Optical Spectrograph (WFOS) instrument concept. Custom macros were written to evaluate performance at the detector plane with the grating at the pupil as a function of fiber position in the pseudo-slit and wavelength, and a tolerance analysis has been performed for each design based on best engineering practices to assess performance robustness against opto-mechanical errors. The catadioptric camera appears to provide the best compromise in this regard

Azimuthal and meridional asymmetries of the solar wind and quasiperiodic variations of intensity of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR)

The results of analysis of 27 day, annual and quasi-two year variation of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) are presented. The dependence of the periods of 27 day GCR variation on the energy of initial radiation is discovered, according to the data during 1980 of the World network of station in sufficiently wide range of the observed threshold energy. The dependence of the annual variation of GCR is established, according to the data of the Huancayo station in conforming with the change of the polarity of the General Magnetic Field of the Sun (GMFS)

LU-HF Age and Isotope Systematics of ALH84001

Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 is an orthopyroxenite that is unique among the Martian meteorites in having the oldest inferred crystallization age (approx..4.5 to 4.0 Gyr) [e.g., 1-6 and references therein 7]. Its ancient origin makes this stone a critical constraint on early history of Mars, in particular the evolution of different planetary crust and mantle reservoirs. However, because there is significant variability in reported crystallization ages, determination of initial isotope compositions is imprecise making assessment of planetary reservoirs difficult. Here we report a new Lu-Hf mineral isochron age, initial Hf-176/Hf-177 isotope composition, and inferred Martian mantle source compositions for ALH84001 that place constraints on longlived source reservoirs for the enriched shergottite suite of Martian meteorites including Shergotty, Zagami, NWA4468, NWA856, RBT04262, LAR06319, and Los Angeles. Sm-Nd isotope analyses are under way for the same mineral aliquots analyzed for Lu-Hf. The Lu-Hf system was utilized because Lu and Hf are both lithophile and refractory and are not easily redistributed during short-lived thermal pulses associated with shock metamorphism. Moreover, chromite has relatively modest Hf concentrations with very low Lu/Hf ratios [9] yielding tight constraints on initial Hf-176/Hf-177 isotope composition

New procedures for testing whether stock price processes are martingales

We propose procedures for testing whether stock price processes are martingales based on limit order type betting strategies. We first show that the null hypothesis of martingale property of a stock price process can be tested based on the capital process of a betting strategy. In particular with high frequency Markov type strategies we find that martingale null hypotheses are rejected for many stock price processes

Effect of Inorganic and Organic Trace Mineral Supplementation on the Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Fecal Mineral Excretion of Phase-fed, Grow-finish Swine

Concentrated livestock production has led to soil nutrient accumulation concerns. To reduce the environmental impact, it is necessary to understand current recommended livestock feeding practices. Two experiments were conducted to compare the effects of trace mineral supplementation on performance, carcass composition, and fecal mineral excretion of phase-fed, grow-finish pigs. Crossbred pigs (Experiment 1 (Exp. 1), (n = 528); Experiment 2 (Exp. 2), (n = 560)) were housed in totally-slatted, confinement barns, blocked by weight, penned by sex, and randomly assigned to pens at approximately 18 kg BW. Treatments were allocated in a randomized complete block design (12 replicate pens per treatment) with 9 to 12 pigs per pen throughout the grow-finish period. In Exp. 1, the control diet (Io100) contained Cu as CuSO4, Fe as FeSO4, and Zn (of which 25% was ZnO and 75% was ZnO4) at concentrations of 63 and 378 mg/kg, respectively. Treatment 2 (O100) contained supplemental Cu, Fe, and Zn from organic sources (Bioplex, Alltech Inc., Nicholasville, KY) at concentrations of 19, 131, and 91 mg/kg, respectively, which are the commercially recommended dietary inclusion levels for these organic trace minerals. Organic Cu, Fe, and Zn concentrations from O100 were reduced by 25% and 50% to form treatments 3 (O75) and 4 (O50-1), respectively. In Exp. 2, treatment 5 (Io25) contained 25% of the Cu, Fe, and Zn (inorganic sources) concentrations found in Io100. Treatment 6 (O50-2) was identical to the O50-1 diet from Exp. 1. Treatment 7 (O25) contained the experimental microminerals reduced by 75% from concentrations found in O100. Treatment 8 (O0) contained no trace mineral supplementation and served as a negative control for Exp. 2. In Exp. 1, tenth-rib backfat, loin muscle area and ADG did not differ (p\u3e0.05) between treatments. Pigs fed the control diet (Io100) consumed less feed (p\u3c0.01) compared to pigs fed diets containing organic trace minerals, thus, G:F was greater (p = 0.03). In Exp. 2, there were no differences among treatment means for loin muscle area, but pigs fed the reduced organic trace mineral diets consumed less (p\u3c0.05) feed and tended (p = 0.10) to have less tenth-rib backfat compared to pigs fed the reduced inorganic trace mineral diet. Considering that performance and feed intake of pigs was not affected by lower dietary trace mineral inclusion, mineral excretion could be reduced during the grow-finish phase by reducing dietary trace mineral concentration

Evaluating the cytotoxicity of innate immune effector cells using the GrB ELISPOT assay

BACKGROUND: This study assessed the Granzyme B (GrB) ELISPOT as a viable alternative to the (51)Cr-release assay for measuring cytotoxic activity of innate immune effector cells. We strategically selected the GrB ELISPOT assay because GrB is a hallmark effector molecule of cell-mediated destruction of target cells. METHODS: We optimized the GrB ELISPOT assay using the human-derived TALL-104 cytotoxic cell line as effectors against K562 target cells. Titration studies were performed to assess whether the ELISPOT assay could accurately enumerate the number of GrB-secreting effector cells. TALL-104 were treated with various secretion inhibitors and utilized in the GrB ELISPOT to determine if GrB measured in the ELISPOT was due to degranulation of effector cells. Additionally, CD107a expression on effector cells after effector-target interaction was utilized to further confirm the mechanism of GrB release by TALL-104 and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells. Direct comparisons between the GrB ELISPOT, the IFN-γ ELISPOT and the standard (51)Cr-release assays were made using human LAK cells. RESULTS: Titration studies demonstrated a strong correlation between the number of TALL-104 and LAK effector cells and the number of GrB spots per well. GrB secretion was detectable within 10 min of effector-target contact with optimal secretion observed at 3–4 h; in contrast, optimal IFN-γ secretion was not observed until 24 h. The protein secretion inhibitor, brefeldin A, did not inhibit the release of GrB but did abrogate IFN-γ production by TALL-104 cells. GrB secretion was abrogated by BAPTA-AM (1,2-bis-(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N', N'-tetraacetic acid tetra(acetoxymethyl) ester), which sequesters intracellular Ca(2+), thereby preventing degranulation. The number of effector cells expressing the degranulation associated glycoprotein CD107a increased after interaction with target cells and correlated with the stimulated release of GrB measured in the ELISPOT assay. CONCLUSIONS: Because of its high sensitivity and ability to estimate cytotoxic effector cell frequency, the GrB ELISPOT assay is a viable alternative to the (51)Cr-release assay to measure MHC non-restricted cytotoxic activity of innate immune cells. Compared to the IFN-γ ELISPOT assay, the GrB ELISPOT may be a more direct measure of cytotoxic cell activity. Because GrB is one of the primary effector molecules in natural killer (NK) cell-mediated killing, detection and enumeration of GrB secreting effector cells can provide valuable insight with regards to innate immunological responses