NASA's first in-space optical gyroscope: A technology experiment on the X ray Timing Explorer spacecraft

A technology experiment on the X-ray Timing Explorer spacecraft to determine the feasibility of Interferometric Fiber Optic Gyroscopes for space flight navigation is described. The experiment consists of placing a medium grade fiber optic gyroscope in parallel with the spacecraft's inertial reference unit. The performance of the fiber optic gyroscope will be monitored and compared to the primary mechanical gyroscope's performance throughout the two-year mission life

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Laser Transmitter

We present the final configuration of the space flight laser transmitter as delivered to the LOLA instrument. The laser consists of two oscillators with co-aligned outputs on a single bench, each capable of providing one billion plus shots

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) Laser Transmitter

The Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter instrument on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission has been in operation since it was launched in 18 June 2009. Thus far the laser transmitter system, which consists of two individual lasers, has accumulated over 1.3 Billion shots and provided an unprecedented view of the lunar surface.[ I] In this paper we present the final configuration of the space flight laser transmitter as delivered to the LOLA instrument along with some in-space operation performance data

The Thermal Infrared Sensor on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), a joint NASA and USGS mission, is scheduled for launch in December, 2012. The LDCM instrument payload will consist of the Operational Land Imager (OLI), provided by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation (BATC} under contract to NASA and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS), provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This paper outlines the design of the TIRS instrument and gives an example of its application to monitoring water consumption by measuring evapotranspiration

Cohort differences in the levels and trajectories of frailty among older people in England

This work was supported by the Medical Research Council and Economic Research Council through the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing programme (grant reference: G1001375/1).Background The level of frailty in the older population across age cohorts and how this changes is a factor in determining future care costs and may also influence the extent of socioeconomic and gender inequalities in frailty. Methods We model cohort-specific trajectories in frailty among the community dwelling population older than 50 years, using five waves (2002–2010) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We stratify our analysis by wealth and gender and use a frailty index, based on accumulation of ‘deficits’. Results For males and females between the ages of 50 and 70 in 2002, frailty trajectories for adjacent age cohorts converge. However, levels of frailty are higher in recent compared with earlier cohorts at the older ages (for cohorts aged over 70 in 2002). These cohort differences are largest in the poorest wealth group, while for the most affluent, frailty trajectories overlap across all adjacent cohorts suggesting no change across cohorts. Conclusions A key driver of the cohort differences in frailty that we observe is likely to be increased survival of frail individuals. Importantly, this paper illustrates that the social conditions experienced across the wealth distribution impacts on the rate of deficit accumulation in older populations. Our results on trajectories of frailty between 2002 and 2010 are pessimistic and, in the context of rising life expectancies, suggest that poorer older people in particular spend additional years of life in a frail state.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Development of a southern hemisphere subtropical wetland (Welsby Lagoon, south-east Queensland, Australia) through the last glacial cycle

Continuous records of terrestrial environmental and climatic variability that extend beyond the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in Australia are rare. Furthermore, where long records do exist, interpretations of climate and ecological change can be hampered by marked changes in sedimentary environment which, in turn, affect the taphonomy of palaeoecological remains. As a consequence, in order to determine how wetland systems responded to climatic and environmental changes, we first need to understand how their depositional environment changed through time. Here we document the development of freshwater Welsby Lagoon, south-east Queensland, from a 12.7 m sediment sequence with a basal age of ca. 130,000 years. We present a variety of proxies reflecting change within the wetland. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations and carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios are used to infer the source of organic matter. However, the nitrogen limited nature of the catchment soils and presence of the colonial algae Botryococcus meant that organic material with C:N ≥ 20 is likely to be derived from autochthonous sources rather than terrestrial sources. A combination of photosynthetic pigments, plant macrofossils, aquatic pollen and sedimentary lignin was used to identify the sources of organic matter and the changing nature of this wetland. Since its formation, Welsby Lagoon has undergone a progressive change from an open-water, algae and cyanobacteria dominated, freshwater lacustrine system, to an aquatic macrophyte-dominated palustrine swamp after ca. 40 ka. It did not revert to lacustrine conditions during the Holocene, despite what is widely viewed as an increase in the regional moisture balance, most likely due to continual infilling of the wetland with sediment. With so few records of terrestrial change throughout MIS3 and MIS4, adequately understanding the development of sites like Welsby Lagoon is imperative to advancing our knowledge of this important environmental and cultural period in Australia's history, which encompasses events such as the extinction of megafauna and human colonisation of the continent

A Phase II Trial of Pyrazine Diazohydroxide in Patients with Disseminated Malignant Melanoma and no Prior Chemotherapy – Southwest Oncology Group Study

Malignant melanoma is rapidly increasing inthe United States. Metastatic diseaseresponds poorly to currently availablechemotherapy. Pyrazine diazohydroxide(PZDH) is a new agent inhibiting DNAsynthesis that is active in mouse tumormodels and human xenografts and lackscross resistance withmultiple standard agents. In this phase IItrial, patients with no prior chemotherapyor immunotherapyfor metastatic disease and performancestatus (SWOG) of 0–1, were treated withpyrazine diazohydroxide at a dose of 100 mg/m 2 /day by IV bolus injectionover 5–15 minutes for 5 consecutive daysevery 6 weeks. There were 23 eligiblepatients entered on this trial with 74%having PS of 0 and 91% having visceralmetastases. There were no confirmed anti-tumor responses. Theoverall response rate is 0% (95% CI 0%–15%). Median overall survival is sixmonths (95% CI 5-8months). The most common toxicities were hematologic and consisted of lymphopenia,thrombocytopenia, anemia, and leukopenia. Fatigue, and nausea and vomiting were thenext mostcommon toxicities. Pyrazine diazohydroxideby this dose and schedule has insufficientactivity in thetreatment of disseminated malignantmelanoma to warrant further investigation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45216/1/10637_2004_Article_390690.pd

Moral judgments, gender, and antisocial preferences : an experimental study

Peer reviewedPostprin

Tracking Subtle Stereotypes of Children with Trisomy 21: From Facial-Feature-Based to Implicit Stereotyping

Background: Stigmatization is one of the greatest obstacles to the successful integration of people with Trisomy 21 (T21 or Down syndrome), the most frequent genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability. Research on attitudes and stereotypes toward these people still focuses on explicit measures subjected to social-desirability biases, and neglects how variability in facial stigmata influences attitudes and stereotyping. Methodology/Principal Findings: The participants were 165 adults including 55 young adult students, 55 non-student adults, and 55 professional caregivers working with intellectually disabled persons. They were faced with implicit association tests (IAT), a well-known technique whereby response latency is used to capture the relative strength with which some groups of people—here photographed faces of typically developing children and children with T21—are automatically (without conscious awareness) associated with positive versus negative attributes in memory. Each participant also rated the same photographed faces (consciously accessible evaluations). We provide the first evidence that the positive bias typically found in explicit judgments of children with T21 is smaller for those whose facial features are highly characteristic of this disorder, compared to their counterparts with less distinctive features and to typically developing children. We also show that this bias can coexist with negative evaluations at the implicit level (with large effect sizes), even among professional caregivers