Induction of HIV-1 Gag-specific memory T cells in Chacma baboons by MVA prime and VLP boost vaccine regimen

We previously reported induction of HIV-specific responses in Chacma baboons following immunization with SAAVI MVA-C (MVA) and HIV-1 Pr55 Gag virus-like particles (VLPs) in a prime-boost vaccination strategy. In the current study, we characterised the vaccine specific memory T cells by flow cytometry

Detection of X-ray galaxy clusters based on the Kolmogorov method

The detection of clusters of galaxies in large surveys plays an important part in extragalactic astronomy, and particularly in cosmology, since cluster counts can give strong constraints on cosmological parameters. X-ray imaging is in particular a reliable means to discover new clusters, and large X-ray surveys are now available. Considering XMM-Newton data for a sample of 40 Abell clusters, we show that their analysis with a Kolmogorov distribution can provide a distinctive signature for galaxy clusters. The Kolmogorov method is sensitive to the correlations in the cluster X-ray properties and can therefore be used for their identification, thus allowing to search reliably for clusters in a simple way

Density of Phonon States in Superconducting FeSe as a Function of Temperature and Pressure

The temperature and pressure dependence of the partial density of phonon states of iron atoms in superconducting Fe1.01Se was studied by 57Fe nuclear inelastic scattering (NIS). The high energy resolution allows for a detailed observation of spectral properties. A sharpening of the optical phonon modes and shift of all spectral features towards higher energies by ~4% with decreasing temperature from 296 K to 10 K was found. However, no detectable change at the tetragonal - orthorhombic phase transition around 100 K was observed. Application of a pressure of 6.7 GPa, connected with an increase of the superconducting temperature from 8 K to 34 K, results in an increase of the optical phonon mode energies at 296 K by ~12%, and an even more pronounced increase for the lowest-lying transversal acoustic mode. Despite these strong pressure-induced modifications of the phonon-DOS we conclude that the pronounced increase of Tc in Fe1.01Se with pressure cannot be described in the framework of classical electron-phonon coupling. This result suggests the importance of spin fluctuations to the observed superconductivity

The neural correlates of regulating positive and negative emotions in medication-free major depression

Depressive cognitive schemas play an important role in the emergence and persistence of major depressive disorder (MDD). The current study adapted emotion regulation techniques to reflect elements of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and related psychotherapies to delineate neurocognitive abnormalities associated with modulating the negative cognitive style in MDD. Nineteen non-medicated patients with MDD and 19 matched controls reduced negative or enhanced positive feelings elicited by emotional scenes while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although both groups showed significant emotion regulation success as measured by subjective ratings of affect, the controls were significantly better at modulating both negative and positive emotion. Both groups recruited regions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when regulating negative emotions. Only in controls was this accompanied by reduced activity in sensory cortices and amygdala. Similarly, both groups showed enhanced activity in VLPFC and ventral striatum when enhancing positive affect; however, only in controls was ventral striatum activity correlated with regulation efficacy. The results suggest that depression is associated with both a reduced capacity to achieve relief from negative affect despite recruitment of ventral and dorsal prefrontal cortical regions implicated in emotion regulation, coupled with a disconnect between activity in reward-related regions and subjective positive affect

The GEM-T2 gravitational model

The GEM-T2 is the latest in a series of Goddard Earth Models of the terrestrial field. It was designed to bring modeling capabilities one step closer towards ultimately determining the TOPEX/Poseidon satellite's radial position to an accuracy of 10-cm RMS (root mean square). It also improves models of the long wavelength geoid to support many oceanographic and geophysical applications. The GEM-T2 extends the spherical harmonic field to include more than 600 coefficients above degree 36 (which was the limit for its predecessor, GEM-T1). Like GEM-T1, it was produced entirely from satellite tracking data, but it now uses nearly twice as many satellites (31 vs. 17), contains four times the number of observations (2.4 million), has twice the number of data arcs (1132), and utilizes precise laser tracking from 11 satellites. The estimation technique for the solution has been augmented to include an optimum data weighting procedure with automatic error calibration for the gravitational parameters. Results for the GEM-T2 error calibration indicate significant improvement over previous satellite-only models. The error of commission in determining the geoid has been reduced from 155 cm in GEM-T1 to 105 cm for GEM-T2 for the 36 x 36 portion of the field, and 141 cm for the entire model. The orbital accuracies achieved using GEM-T2 are likewise improved. Also, the projected radial error on the TOPEX satellite orbit indicates 9.4 cm RMS for GEM-T2, compared to 24.1 cm for GEM-T1

Optical implementation and entanglement distribution in Gaussian valence bond states

We study Gaussian valence bond states of continuous variable systems, obtained as the outputs of projection operations from an ancillary space of M infinitely entangled bonds connecting neighboring sites, applied at each of $N$ sites of an harmonic chain. The entanglement distribution in Gaussian valence bond states can be controlled by varying the input amount of entanglement engineered in a (2M+1)-mode Gaussian state known as the building block, which is isomorphic to the projector applied at a given site. We show how this mechanism can be interpreted in terms of multiple entanglement swapping from the chain of ancillary bonds, through the building blocks. We provide optical schemes to produce bisymmetric three-mode Gaussian building blocks (which correspond to a single bond, M=1), and study the entanglement structure in the output Gaussian valence bond states. The usefulness of such states for quantum communication protocols with continuous variables, like telecloning and teleportation networks, is finally discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. To appear in Optics and Spectroscopy, special issue for ICQO'2006 (Minsk). This preprint contains extra material with respect to the journal versio

Designing cost-sharing methods for Bayesian games

We study the design of cost-sharing protocols for two fundamental resource allocation problems, the Set Cover and the Steiner Tree Problem, under environments of incomplete information (Bayesian model). Our objective is to design protocols where the worst-case Bayesian Nash equilibria, have low cost, i.e. the Bayesian Price of Anarchy (PoA) is minimized. Although budget balance is a very natural requirement, it puts considerable restrictions on the design space, resulting in high PoA. We propose an alternative, relaxed requirement called budget balance in the equilibrium (BBiE).We show an interesting connection between algorithms for Oblivious Stochastic optimization problems and cost-sharing design with low PoA. We exploit this connection for both problems and we enforce approximate solutions of the stochastic problem, as Bayesian Nash equilibria, with the same guarantees on the PoA. More interestingly, we show how to obtain the same bounds on the PoA, by using anonymous posted prices which are desirable because they are easy to implement and, as we show, induce dominant strategies for the players

Gravitational model improvement at the Goddard Space Flight Center

Major new computations of terrestrial gravitational field models were performed by the Geodynamics Branch of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). This development has incorporated the present state of the art results in satellite geodesy and have relied upon a more consistent set of reference constants than was heretofore utilized in GSFC's GEM models. The solutions are complete in spherical harmonic coefficients out to degree 50 for the gravity field parameters. These models include adjustment for a subset of 66 ocean tidal coefficients for the long wavelength components of 12 major ocean tides. This tidal adjustment was made in the presence of 550 other fixed ocean tidal terms representing 32 major and minor ocean tides and the Wahr frequency dependent solid earth tidal model. In addition 5-day averaged values for Earth rotation and polar motion were derived for the time period of 1980 onward. Two types of models were computed. These are satellite only models relying exclusively on tracking data and combination models which have incorporated satellite altimetry and surface gravity data. The satellite observational data base consists of over 1100 orbital arcs of data on 31 satellites. A large percentage of these observations were provided by third generation laser stations (less than 5 cm). A calibration of the model accuracy of the GEM-T2 satellite only solution indicated that it was a significant improvement over previous models based solely upon tracking data. The rms geoid error for this field is 110 cm to degree and order 36. This is a major advancement over GEM-T1 whose errors were estimated to be 160 cm. An error propagation using the covariances of the GEM-T2 model for the TOPEX radial orbit component indicates that the rms radial errors are expected to be 12 cm. The combination solution, PGS-3337, is a preliminary effort leading to the development of GEM-T3. PGS-3337 has incorporated global sets of surface gravity data and the Seasat altimetry to produce a model complete to (50,50). A solution for the dynamic ocean topography to degree and order 10 was included as part of this adjustment