1,699 research outputs found
Generic Drone Control Platform for Autonomous Capture of Cinema Scenes
The movie industry has been using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles as a new tool to
produce more and more complex and aesthetic camera shots. However, the shooting
process currently rely on manual control of the drones which makes it difficult
and sometimes inconvenient to work with. In this paper we address the lack of
autonomous system to operate generic rotary-wing drones for shooting purposes.
We propose a global control architecture based on a high-level generic API used
by many UAV. Our solution integrates a compound and coupled model of a generic
rotary-wing drone and a Full State Feedback strategy. To address the specific
task of capturing cinema scenes, we combine the control architecture with an
automatic camera path planning approach that encompasses cinematographic
techniques. The possibilities offered by our system are demonstrated through a
series of experiments
Defects in the biosynthesis of mitochondrial heme c and heme a in yeast and mammals
AbstractDefects in heme biosynthesis have been associated with a large number of diseases, but mostly recognized in porphyrias, which are neurovisceral or cutaneous disorders caused by the accumulation of biosynthetic intermediates. However, defects in the maturation of heme groups that are part of the oxidative phosphorylation system are now also recognized as important causes of disease. The electron transport chain contains heme groups of the types a, b and c, all of which are directly involved in electron transfer reactions. In this article, we review the effect of mutations in enzymes involved in the maturation of heme a (the prosthetic group of cytochrome c oxidase) and heme c (the prosthetic group of cytochrome c) both in yeast and in humans. COX10 and COX15 are two genes, initially identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae that have been found to cause infantile cytochrome c oxidase deficiency in humans. They participate in the farnesylation and hydroxylation of heme b, steps that are necessary for the formation of heme a, the prosthetic group required for cytochrome oxidase assembly and activity. Deletion of the cytochrome c heme lyase gene in a single allele has also been associated with a human disease, known as Microphthalmia with Linear Skin defects (MLS) syndrome. The cytochrome c heme lyase is necessary to covalently attach the heme group to the apocytochrome c polypeptide. The production of mouse models recapitulating these diseases is providing novel information on the pathogenesis of clinical syndromes
The MSSM prediction for W+/- H-/+ production by gluon fusion
We discuss the associated W+/- H-/+ production in p p collision for the Large
Hadron Collider. A complete one-loop calculation of the loop-induced subprocess
g g -> W+/- H-/+ is presented in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric
Standard Model (MSSM), and the possible enhancement of the hadronic cross
section is investigated under the constraint from the squark direct-search
results and the low-energy precision data. Because of the large destructive
interplay in the quark-loop contributions between triangle-type and box-type
diagrams, the squark-loop contributions turn out to be comparable with the
quark-loop ones. In particular, the hadronic cross section via gluon fusion can
be extensively enhanced by squark-pair threshold effects in the box-type
diagrams, so that it can be as large as the hadronic cross section via the b
b-bar -> W+/- H-/+ subprocess which appears at tree level.Comment: 35 pages, 7 figures, version to appear in Physical Review
The Optical Afterglow of GRB 011211
We present early-time optical photometry and spectroscopy of the optical
afterglow of the gamma-ray burst GRB 011211. The spectrum of the optical
afterglow contains several narrow metal lines which are consistent with the
burst occurring at a redshift of 2.140 +/- 0.001. The optical afterglow decays
as a power law with a slope of alpha = 0.83 +/- 0.04 for the first
approximately two days after the burst at which time there is evidence for a
break. The slope after the break is at least 1.4. There is evidence for rapid
variations in the R-band light approximately 0.5 days after the burst. These
variations suggest that there are density fluctuations near the gamma-ray burst
on spatial scales of approximately 40--125 AU. The magnitude of the break in
the light curve, the spectral slope, and the rate of decay in the optical,
suggest that the burst expanded into an ambient medium that is homogeneous on
large scales. We estimate that the local particle density is between
approximately 0.1 and 10 cm^{-3} and that the total gamma-ray energy in the
burst was 1.2--1.9 x 10^{50} erg. This energy is smaller than, but consistent
with, the ``standard'' value of (5 +/- 2) x 10^{50} erg. Comparing the observed
color of the optical afterglow with predictions of the standard beaming model
suggests that the rest-frame V-band extinction in the host galaxy is less than
approximately 0.03 mag.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, AASTeX 5.02, to appear in AJ Referee's report
incorporated, minor changes in the tex
Influence of relative NK-DC abundance on placentation and its relation to epigenetic programming in the offspring
Normal placentation relies on an efficient maternal adaptation to pregnancy. Within the decidua, natural killer (NK) cells and dendritic cells (DC) have a critical role in modulating angiogenesis and decidualization associated with pregnancy. However, the contribution of these immune cells to the placentation process and subsequently fetal development remains largely elusive. Using two different mouse models, we here show that optimal placentation and fetal development is sensitive to disturbances in NK cell relative abundance at the fetal–maternal interface. Depletion of NK cells during early gestation compromises the placentation process by causing alteration in placental function and structure. Embryos derived from NK-depleted dams suffer from intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), a phenomenon that continued to be evident in the offspring on post-natal day 4. Further, we demonstrate that IUGR was accompanied by an overall reduction of global DNA methylation levels and epigenetic changes in the methylation of specific hepatic gene promoters. Thus, temporary changes within the NK cell pool during early gestation influence placental development and function, subsequently affecting hepatic gene methylation and fetal metabolism.Fil: Freitag, Nancy. Medicine University of Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Zwier, M. V.. University of Groningen; Países BajosFil: Barrientos, Gabriela Laura. Medicine University of Berlin; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tirado González, Irene. Medicine University of Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Conrad, Melanie L.. Medicine University of Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Rose, Matthias. Medicine University of Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Scherjon, S. A.. University of Groningen; Países BajosFil: Plösch, T.. University of Groningen; Países BajosFil: Blois, Sandra M.. Medicine University of Berlin; Alemani
Determining the Chirality of Yukawa Couplings via Single Charged Higgs Boson Production in Polarized Photon Collision
When the charged Higgs boson is too heavy to be produced in pairs, the
predominant production mechanism at Linear Colliders is via the single charged
Higgs boson production processes, such as and . We show that
the yield of a heavy charged Higgs boson at a collider is
typically one or two orders of magnitude larger than that at an
collider. Furthermore, a polarized collider can determine the
chirality of the Yukawa couplings of fermions with charged Higgs boson via
single charged Higgs boson production, and thus discriminate models of new
physics.Comment: Version accepted by Physical Review Letters (references added, minor
rewording, RevTex4
‘Labour Chains’: Analysing the Role of Labour Contractors in Global Production Networks
Cosmic Evolution of a Sample of Infrared Luminous Galaxies
A sample of faint, southern-hemisphere 60 μm sources
(f_(60) > 100mJy) detected as part of the IRAS Additional Observations has been used, in conjunction with CCD imaging, to produce a list of faint infrared galaxies. Redshifts of this sample of galaxies can be compared
with model predictions for several evolutionary scenarios; the comparisons show an excess of galaxies at higher redshifts (z > 0.1) compared with the predictions of models which assume no evolution of the infrared-galaxy luminosity function
Understanding the rise of cardiometabolic diseases in low- and middle-income countries
Increases in the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), particularly cardiometabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes, and their major risk factors have not been uniform across settings: for example, cardiovascular disease mortality has declined over recent decades in high-income countries but increased in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The factors contributing to this rise are varied and are influenced by environmental, social, political and commercial determinants of health, among other factors. This Review focuses on understanding the rise of cardiometabolic diseases in LMICs, with particular emphasis on obesity and its drivers, together with broader environmental and macro determinants of health, as well as LMIC-based responses to counteract cardiometabolic diseases
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