Toxic Metals in Aquatic Ecosystems: A Microbiological Perspective

Microbe-metal interactions in aquatic environments and their exact role in transport and transformations of toxic metals are poorly understood. This paper will briefly review our understanding of these interactions. Ongoing research in Lake Chapala, Mexico, the major water source for the City of Guadalajara, provides an opportunity to study the microbiological aspects of metal-cycling in the water column. Constant resuspension of sediments provides a microbiologically rich aggregate-based system. Data indicate that toxic metals are concentrated on aggregate material and bioaccumulate in the food chain. A provisional model is presented for involvement of microbial aggregates in metal-cycling in Lake Chapala

Autonomous Spacecraft Communication Interface for Load Planning

Ground-based controllers can remain in continuous communication with spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) with near-instantaneous communication speeds. This permits near real-time control of all of the core spacecraft systems by ground personnel. However, as NASA missions move beyond LEO, light-time communication delay issues, such as time lag and low bandwidth, will prohibit this type of operation. As missions become more distant, autonomous control of manned spacecraft will be required. The focus of this paper is the power subsystem. For present missions, controllers on the ground develop a complete schedule of power usage for all spacecraft components. This paper presents work currently underway at NASA to develop an architecture for an autonomous spacecraft, and focuses on the development of communication between the Mission Manager and the Autonomous Power Controller. These two systems must work together in order to plan future load use and respond to unanticipated plan deviations. Using a nominal spacecraft architecture and prototype versions of these two key components, a number of simulations are run under a variety of operational conditions, enabling development of content and format of the messages necessary to achieve the desired goals. The goals include negotiation of a load schedule that meets the global requirements (contained in the Mission Manager) and local power system requirements (contained in the Autonomous Power Controller), and communication of off-plan disturbances that arise while executing a negotiated plan. The message content is developed in two steps: first, a set of rapid-prototyping "paper" simulations are preformed; then the resultant optimized messages are codified for computer communication for use in automated testing

Excited Vibrational Level Rotational Constants for SiC2: A Sensitive Molecular Diagnostic for Astrophysical Conditions

Silacyclopropynylidene, SiC2, is a known and highly abundant circumstellar molecule. Its spectrum has been established as a major component of lines observed toward the carbon-rich star IRC +10216 (CW Leonis). It has been detected in its low-lying v(sub 3) = 1 and 2 vibrational states as well as in various isotopic compositions. Increasing sensitivity and spatial resolution will enable many more emission or absorption lines to be detected. In order to detect new molecular species, unassigned lines of known species must be identified. This work uses established ab initio quartic force fields to produce data necessary for this classification of lines related to SiC2. Agreement between the theoretical vibrational frequencies and known rotational and spectroscopic constants is quite good, as good as 5 cm(exp -1) and 3 MHz, respectively in some cases. Additionally, experimentally unknown vibrational frequencies and rotational constants are provided for the first overtones and combination bands in addition to 3(sub v3), the second overtone of the low-lying antisymmetric stretch/carbide rotation mode. Frequencies of v(sub 3) = 3 low-J rotational transitions of the main isotopic species are also estimated from published data for v(sub 3) 2. Further, we determine rotational and centrifugal distortion parameters for which in most cases vibrational effects due to the v(sub 3) mode were reduced to first, and in several cases also to second order. These values may approximate equilibrium values better than the ground state values. The data produced herein will aid in the experimental and observational characterization of this known astromolecule in order to identify some of the unassigned lines for a known entity

Human Factors for Small Net Habitable Volume: The Case for a Close-Quarter Space Habitat Analog

Increasing efforts in sending humans to Mars calls for greater considerations of the ways in which vehicle and habitat design can influence crew performance and behavioral health

Extremely Metal-Poor Stars. VII. The Most Metal-Poor Dwarf, CS 22876-032

We report high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise, observations of the extremely metal-poor double-lined spectroscopic binary CS 22876-032. The system has a long period : P = 424.7 $\pm$ 0.6 days. It comprises two main sequence stars having effective temperatures 6300 K and 5600 K, with a ratio of secondary to primary mass of 0.89 $\pm$ 0.04. The metallicity of the system is [Fe/H] = -3.71 $\pm$ 0.11 $\pm$ 0.12 (random and systematic errors) -- somewhat higher than previous estimates. We find [Mg/Fe] = 0.50, typical of values of less extreme halo material. [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], and [Ti/Fe], however, all have significantly lower values, ~ 0.0-0.1, suggesting that the heavier elements might have been underproduced relative to Mg in the material from which this object formed. In the context of the hypothesis that the abundance patterns of extremely metal-poor stars are driven by individual enrichment events and the models of Woosley and Weaver (1995), the data for CS 22876-032 are consistent with its having been enriched by a zero-metallicity supernova of mass 30 M$_{\odot}$. As the most metal-poor near-main-sequence-turnoff star currently known, the primary of the system has the potential to strongly constrain the primordial lithium abundance. We find A(Li) (= log(N(Li)/N(H)) + 12.00) = 2.03 $\pm$ 0.07, which is consistent with the finding of Ryan et al. (1999) that for stars of extremely low metallicity A(Li) is a function of [Fe/H].Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, Sept. 1, 2000 issu

The Status of the Blacknose Shiner (Notropis heterolepis) tn Iowa: A Preliminary Survey

During the last 45 years, the blacknose shiner (Notropis heterolepis) has been restricted to a three county area in northwestern Iowa. We surveyed locations where this siltation-intolerant species had been captured to update the status of the fish in the state. Streams were blocked with nets on both the upstream and downstream ends of sample areas, and fish were collected with a backpack electrofisher and seines. Lakes where the blacknose shiner had been found were also sampled. No blacknose shiners were found and several possible explanations are offered for their absence from historical sites

Improving Continuous-variable Quantum Channels with Unitary Averaging

A significant hurdle for quantum information and processing using bosonic systems are stochastic phase errors, which are likely to occur as the photons propagate through a channel. We propose and demonstrate a scheme of passive, linear optical unitary averaging for protecting Gaussian channels. The scheme requires only linear optical elements and vacuum detectors, and protects against a loss of purity, squeezing and entanglement. We present numerical simulations and analytical formula, tailored for currently relevant parameters with low noise levels, where our approximations perform exceptionally well. We also show the asymptotic nature of the protocol, highlighting both current and future relevance.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Cross-correlation Weak Lensing of SDSS Galaxy Clusters III: Mass-to-light Ratios

We present measurements of the excess mass-to-light ratio measured aroundMaxBCG galaxy clusters observed in the SDSS. This red sequence cluster sample includes objects from small groups with masses ranging from ~5x10^{12} to ~10^{15} M_{sun}/h. Using cross-correlation weak lensing, we measure the excess mass density profile above the universal mean \Delta \rho(r) = \rho(r) - \bar{\rho} for clusters in bins of richness and optical luminosity. We also measure the excess luminosity density \Delta l(r) = l(r) - \bar{l} measured in the z=0.25 i-band. For both mass and light, we de-project the profiles to produce 3D mass and light profiles over scales from 25 kpc/ to 22 Mpc/h. From these profiles we calculate the cumulative excess mass M(r) and excess light L(r) as a function of separation from the BCG. On small scales, where \rho(r) >> \bar{\rho}, the integrated mass-to-light profile may be interpreted as the cluster mass-to-light ratio. We find the M/L_{200}, the mass-to-light ratio within r_{200}, scales with cluster mass as a power law with index 0.33+/-0.02. On large scales, where \rho(r) ~ \bar{\rho}, the M/L approaches an asymptotic value independent of cluster richness. For small groups, the mean M/L_{200} is much smaller than the asymptotic value, while for large clusters it is consistent with the asymptotic value. This asymptotic value should be proportional to the mean mass-to-light ratio of the universe . We find /b^2_{ml} = 362+/-54 h (statistical). There is additional uncertainty in the overall calibration at the ~10% level. The parameter b_{ml} is primarily a function of the bias of the L <~ L_* galaxies used as light tracers, and should be of order unity. Multiplying by the luminosity density in the same bandpass we find \Omega_m/b^2_{ml} = 0.02+/-0.03, independent of the Hubble parameter.Comment: Third paper in a series; v2.0 incorporates ApJ referee's suggestion

Benefits of Turbid River Plume Habitat for Lake Erie Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) Recruitment Determined by Juvenile to Larval Genotype Assignment

Nutrient-rich, turbid river plumes that are common to large lakes and coastal marine ecosystems have been hypothesized to benefit survival of fish during early life stages by increasing food availability and (or) reducing vulnerability to visual predators. However, evidence that river plumes truly benefit the recruitment process remains meager for both freshwater and marine fishes. Here, we use genotype assignment between juvenile and larval yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from western Lake Erie to estimate and compare recruitment to the age-0 juvenile stage for larvae residing inside the highly turbid, south-shore Maumee River plume versus those occupying the less turbid, more northerly Detroit River plume. Bayesian genotype assignment of a mixed assemblage of juvenile (age-0) yellow perch to putative larval source populations established that recruitment of larvae was higher from the turbid Maumee River plume than for the less turbid Detroit River plume during 2006 and 2007, but not in 2008. Our findings add to the growing evidence that turbid river plumes can indeed enhance survival of fish larvae to recruited life stages, and also demonstrate how novel population genetic analyses of early life stages can contribute to determining critical early life stage processes in the fish recruitment process