A 300 GHz "Always-in-Focus" Focusing System for Target Detection

A focusing system for a 300 GHz radar with 5 m target distance and 10 mm diameter spot size resolution is proposed. The focusing system is based on a Gaussian telescope scheme and its main parameters have been de¬signed using Gaussian beam quasi-optical propagation theory with an in-house developed MATLAB® based analysis tool. Then, this approach has been applied to a real focusing system based on two elliptical mirrors in order to reduce the distortion and cross-polar level and a plane mirror to provide scanning capabilities. The over¬all system has been simulated with a full-wave electromag¬netic simulator and its behavior is presented. With this approach, the focusing system always works "in-focus" since the only mirror that is rotated when scanning is the output plane mirror, so the beam is almost not distorted. The design process, although based in the well-known Gaussian beam quasi-optical propagation theory, provides a fast and accurate method and minimizes the overall size of the mirrors. As a consequence, the size of the focusing system is also reduced

Reconstructing the Topology on Monoids and Polymorphism Clones of the Rationals

We show how to reconstruct the topology on the monoid of endomorphisms of the rational numbers under the strict or reflexive order relation, and the polymorphism clone of the rational numbers under the reflexive relation. In addition we show how automatic homeomorphicity results can be lifted to polymorphism clones generated by monoids

Effect of Sunflower and Marine Oils on Ruminal Microbiota, In vitro Fermentation and Digesta Fatty Acid Profile

Funding This work has been funded by Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León (research project LE007A07). Acknowledgments We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI). Support received from CICYT project AGL2005-04760-C02-02 is gratefully acknowledged.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

OSU-03012 sensitizes breast cancers to lapatinib-induced cell killing: a role for Nck1 but not Nck2

Background Lapatinib is characterized as an ErbB1/ErbB2 dual inhibitor and has recently been approved for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. In this study, we examined mechanisms associated with enhancing the activity of lapatinib via combination with other therapies. Methods In the present studies, estrogen receptor (ER) positive and ER negative breast cancer cells were genetically manipulated to up- or downregulate eIF2-alpha, its phospho-mutant, Nck1, or Nck2, then treated with OSU-03012, lapatinib or the combination and assayed for cytotoxicity/cytostaticity using clonogenic assays. Results Treatment of breast cancer cell lines with lapatinib and OSU-03012 (a small molecule derivative of the Cox-2 inhibitor celecoxib) induced synergistic cytotoxic/cytostatic effects. This combination therapy corresponded to an increase in the phosphorylation of eIF2-α at serine51 and a decrease in Nck1 expression. Ectopic expression of phospho-mutant eIF2-α (Ser51Ala) or downregulation of eIF2-α in addition to downregulation of the eIF2-α kinase PERK inhibited the synergistic and cytotoxic effects. Furthermore, ectopic expression of Nck1, but not Nck2 abolished the decrease in cell viability observed in combination-treated cells. Downregulation of Nck1 failed to “rescue” the ablation of the cytotoxic/cytostatic effects by the phospho-mutant of eIF2-α (Ser51Ala) demonstrating that Nck1 downregulation is upstream of eIF2-α phosphorylation in the anti-survival pathway activated by lapatinib and OSU-03012 treatment. Finally, co-immunoprecipitation assays indicated that eIF2-α dissociates from the Nck1/PP1 complex after OSU-03012 and lapatinib co-treatment. Conclusions These data indicate that OSU-03012 and lapatinib co-treatment is an effective combination therapy, which functions to enhance cell killing through the Nck1/eIF2 complex. Hence, this complex is a novel target for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer

Scanner image methodology (SIM) to measure dimensions of leaves for agronomical applications

A scanner image methodology was used to determine plant dimensions, such as leaf area, length and width. The values obtained using SIM were compared with those recorded by the LI-COR leaf area meter. Bias, linearity, reproducibility and repeatability (R&R) were evaluated for SIM. Different groups of leaves were scanned and measured. R&R studies showed that, the lowest SIM’s resolution was nineteen categories. SIM’s R&R ANOVA showed the method’s measurement error was not significant. In the image processing method, the color image was converted to gray scale over the green band and it was segmented using Otsu methodology. The noise produced was cleaned with a median filter. The leaf image was rotated to align the longest parallel line to y-axis or x-axis using central moments. From the centroid using directional erosions the leaf width and length were obtained and recorded.Key words: Leaf area, width, length, digital image analysis, segmentation

AVOCADO: A Virtual Observatory Census to Address Dwarfs Origins

Dwarf galaxies are by far the most abundant of all galaxy types, yet their properties are still poorly understood -especially due to the observational challenge that their intrinsic faintness represents. AVOCADO aims at establishing firm conclusions on their formation and evolution by constructing a homogeneous, multiwavelength dataset for a statistically significant sample of several thousand nearby dwarfs (-18 < Mi < -14). Using public data and Virtual Observatory tools, we have built GALEX+SDSS+2MASS spectral energy distributions that are fitted by a library of single stellar population models. Star formation rates, stellar masses, ages and metallicities are further complemented with structural parameters that can be used to classify them morphologically. This unique dataset, coupled with a detailed characterization of each dwar's environment, allows for a fully comprehensive investigation of their origins and to track the (potential) evolutionary paths between the different dwarf types.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 277, "Tracing the Ancestry of Galaxies on the Land of our Ancestors", Carignan, Freeman, and Combes, ed

The evolution of H{\sc ii} galaxies: Testing the bursting scenario through the use of self-consistent models

We have computed a series of realistic and self-consistent models of the emitted spectra of H{\sc ii} galaxies. Our models combine different codes of chemical evolution, evolutionary population synthesis and photoionization. The emitted spectrum of H{\sc ii} galaxies is reproduced by means of the photoionization code CLOUDY, using as ionizing spectrum the spectral energy distribution of the modelled H{\sc ii} galaxy, which in turn is calculated according to a Star Formation History (SFH) and a metallicity evolution given by a chemical evolution model that follows the abundances of 15 different elements. The contribution of emission lines to the broad-band colours is explicitly taken into account. The results of our code are compared with photometric and spectroscopic data of H{\sc ii} galaxies. Our technique reproduces observed diagnostic diagrams, abundances, equivalent width-colour and equivalent width-metallicity relations for local H{\sc ii} galaxies.Comment: 13 figures and 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS Main Journa

The effect of interpolation methods in temperature and salinity trends in the Western Mediterranean

Temperature and salinity data in the historical record are scarce and unevenly distributed in space and time and the estimation of linear trends is sensitive to different factors. In the case of the Western Mediterranean, previous works have studied the sensitivity of these trends to the use of bathythermograph data, the averaging methods or the way in which gaps in time series are dealt with. In this work, a new factor is analysed: the effect of data interpolation. Temperature and salinity time series are generated averaging existing data over certain geographical areas and also by means of interpolation. Linear trends from both types of time series are compared. There are some differences between both estimations for some layers and geographical areas, while in other cases the results are consistent. Those results which do not depend on the use of interpolated or non-interpolated data, neither are influenced by data analysis methods can be considered as robust ones. Those results influenced by the interpolation process or the factors analysed in previous sensitivity tests are not considered as robust results

Synthetic spectra of H Balmer and HeI absorption lines. II: Evolutionary synthesis models for starburst and post-starburst galaxies

We present evolutionary stellar population synthesis models to predict the spectrum of a single-metallicity stellar population, with a spectral sampling of 0.3 A in five spectral regions between 3700 and 5000 A. The models, which are optimized for galaxies with active star formation, synthesize the profiles of the hydrogen Balmer series (Hb, Hg, Hd, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12 and H13) and the neutral helium absorption lines (HeI 4922, HeI 4471, HeI 4388, HeI 4144, HeI 4121, HeI 4026, HeI 4009 and HeI 3819) for a burst with an age ranging from 1 to 1000 Myr, and different assumptions about the stellar initial mass function. Continuous star formation models lasting for 1 Gyr are also presented. The input stellar library includes NLTE absorption profiles for stars hotter than 25000 K and LTE profiles for lower temperatures. The temperature and gravity coverage is 4000 K <Teff< 50000 K and 0.0< log g$< 5.0, respectively. The models can be used to date starburst and post-starburst galaxies until 1 Gyr. They have been tested on data for clusters in the LMC, the super-star cluster B in the starburst galaxy NGC 1569, the nucleus of the dwarf elliptical NGC 205 and a luminous "E+A" galaxy. The full data set is available for retrieval at http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and at http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/, or on request from the authors at [email protected]: To be published in ApJS. 48 pages and 20 figure