NASA Lidar system support and MOPA technology demonstration

A series of lidar design and technology demonstration tasks in support of a CO2 lidar program is discussed. The first of these tasks is discussed in Section VI of this report under the heading of NASA Optical Lidar Design and it consists of detailed recommendations for the layout of a CO2 Doppler lidar incorporating then existing NASA optical components and mounts. The second phase of this work consisted of the design, development, and delivery to NASA of a novel acousto-optic laser frequency stabilization system for use with the existing NASA ring laser transmitter. The second major task in this program encompasses the design and experimental demonstration of a master oscillator-power amplifier (MOPA) laser transmitter utilizing a commercially available laser as the amplifier. The MOPA design including the low chirp master oscillator is discussed in detail. Experimental results are given for one, two and three pass amplification. The report includes operating procedures for the MOPA system

Ultra‐short pulsed laser processing of sapphire

Synthetic crystalline sapphire is hard, transparent and inert to most chemical etchants. It is a popular substrate for numerous applications in e.g. semiconductor industry, microfluidics, smartphones and watches. However, sapphire is challenging to machine with traditional techniques such as mechanical dicing. Tightly focusing a femto‐ or picosecond pulsed laser beam inside the bulk of sapphire amorphized a volume in and near the laser focus (diameter ~ 1 micrometer). This amorphized region can be selectively removed by chemical etching in a subsequent step, resulting in hollow volumes and structures [1]. For the technique to be fully exploited, several scientific challenges still need to be overcome. To address these challenges, we combined an experimental and a theoretical approach study and optimize this two‐step method. Our numerical model allows simulation of the laser‐material interaction during short ulsed laser processing of sapphire [2]. Physical phenomena included in the 2D and timedependent model are the laser intensity distribution, free electron density, electron temperature and lattice temperature during and directly after the pulse. Simulation results show that avalanche ionization needs to be triggered for sapphire to absorb laser energy. Our experimental results show that the pulse energy and focus depth are the most dominant laser parameters. Further, the type of etchant used has a strong effect on the resulting structures, not only, in the bulk, but also on the surface of sapphire. Acknowledgement: The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska‐ Curie grant agreement No. 675063

A note on upper ramification jumps in Abelian extensions of exponent p

In this paper we present a classification of the possible upper ramification jumps for an elementary Abelian p-extension of ap-adic field. The fundamental step for the proof of the main result is the computation of the ramification filtration for the maximal elementary Abelian p-extension of the base field K. This result generalizes [3, Lemma 9, p. 2861, where the same result is proved under the assumption that K contains a primitive p-th root of unity. To deal with this general case we use class field theory and the explicit relations between the normic group of an extension and its ramification jumps, and we obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the upper ramification jumps of an elementary Abelian p-extension of K

Betti maps, Pell equations in polynomials and almost-Belyi maps

We study the Betti map of a particular (but relevant) section of the family of Jacobians of hyperelliptic curves using the polynomial Pell equation A(2) - DB2 = 1, with A, B, D is an element of C[t] and certain ramified covers P-1 -> P-1 arising from such equation and having heavy constrains on their ramification. In particular, we obtain a special case of a result of Andre, Corvaja and Zannier on the submersivity of the Betti map by studying the locus of the polynomials D that fit in a Pell equation inside the space of polynomials of fixed even degree. Moreover, Riemann existence theorem associates to the abovementioned covers certain permutation representations: We are able to characterize the representations corresponding to 'primitive' solutions of the Pell equation or to powers of solutions of lower degree and give a combinatorial description of these representations when D has degree 4. In turn, this characterization gives back some precise information about the rational values of the Betti map

A Semantic Framework Supporting Multilayer Networks Analysis for Rare Diseases

Understanding the role played by genetic variations in diseases, exploring genomic variants, and discovering disease-associated loci are among the most pressing challenges of genomic medicine. A huge and ever-increasing amount of information is available to researchers to address these challenges. Unfortunately, it is stored in fragmented ontologies and databases, which use heterogeneous formats and poorly integrated schemas. To overcome these limitations, the authors propose a linked data approach, based on the formalism of multilayer networks, able to integrate and harmonize biomedical information from multiple sources into a single dense network covering different aspects on Neuroendocrine Neoplasms (NENs). The proposed integration schema consists of three interconnected layers representing, respectively, information on the disease, on the affected genes, on the related biological processes and molecular functions. An easy-to-use client-server application was also developed to browse and search for information on the model supporting multilayer network analysis

Hyperelliptic continued fractions and generalized jacobians: Minicourse given by Umberto Zannier

These are notes from the minicourse given by Umberto Zannier (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa). The notes were worked out by Laura Capuano, Peter Jossen,1 Christina Karolus, and Francesco Veneziano. Most of the material of these lectures, except for the numerical examples which were added by us, is already available in [45], The authors wish to thank Umberto Zannier for the lively discussions in Alpbach, and Olaf Merkert for providing computations of the examples 3.17, 3.28, 3.29, 3.33, and 3.25

A Linked Data Application for Harmonizing Heterogeneous Biomedical Information

In the biomedical field, there is an ever-increasing number of large, fragmented, and isolated data sources stored in databases and ontologies that use heterogeneous formats and poorly integrated schemes. Researchers and healthcare professionals find it extremely difficult to master this huge amount of data and extract relevant information. In this work, we propose a linked data approach, based on multilayer networks and semantic Web standards, capable of integrating and harmonizing several biomedical datasets with different schemas and semi-structured data through a multi-model database providing polyglot persistence. The domain chosen concerns the analysis and aggregation of available data on neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs), a relatively rare type of neoplasm. Integrated information includes twelve public datasets available in heterogeneous schemas and formats including RDF, CSV, TSV, SQL, OWL, and OBO. The proposed integrated model consists of six interconnected layers representing, respectively, information on the disease, the related phenotypic alterations, the affected genes, the related biological processes, molecular functions, the involved human tissues, and drugs and compounds that show documented interactions with them. The defined scheme extends an existing three-layer model covering a subset of the mentioned aspects. A client–server application was also developed to browse and search for information on the integrated model. The main challenges of this work concern the complexity of the biomedical domain, the syntactic and semantic heterogeneity of the datasets, and the organization of the integrated model. Unlike related works, multilayer networks have been adopted to organize the model in a manageable and stratified structure, without the need to change the original datasets but by transforming their data “on the fly” to respond to user requests

THE ANALYSIS OF OVER-DISPERSED COUNT DATA FROM A SINGLE FACTOR STUDY

Methods for analyzing over-dispersed count data in a one-way layout were compared using a Monte Carlo study. Several variance stabilizing transformations were examined as alternatives to analyzing the raw data using a general linear model. Additionally, generalized linear models were fit using a log link. For the generalized linear model, three approaches to account for over-dispersion were investigated: (1) a negative binomial distribution with known k, (2) a Poisson distribution with Pearson\u27s X2 as an estimate of the scale parameter, and (3) a Poisson distribution with over-dispersion estimated using the deviance. The analysis of the raw data and log transformed data controlled the size of the tests better than the generalized linear models in the region of the sample space studied

Extraction of phenolic compounds from 'Aglianico' and 'Uva di Troia' grape skins and seeds in model solutions: Influence of ethanol and maceration time

The effect of increasing concentration of ethanol (0, 4, 7.5 and 13 %) and contact time (respectively 1, 4, 7 and 10 days) on the extraction of phenolics from berry skins and seeds of the grape, Vitis vinifera 'Aglianico' and 'Uva di Troia', were examined. Two assays of post-fermentative maceration in two hydroalcoholic solutions at 11 and 13 % ethanol, were also performed. Chromatic properties and phenolics of medium were analyzed by HPLC and spectrophotometric methods. The extraction of total phenolics, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, and vanilline reactive flavans (VRF) from berry skins reached the maximum on the 4th day of maceration. Quercetin and gallic acid were gradually extracted from grape skins. The maximum release of flavan-3-ols from the skins was achieved on the first day of maceration. Total phenolics, tannins and VRF were gradually extracted from seeds. During the postfermentative maceration, higher the content of ethanol, higher the extraction of total polyphenols and tannins from 'Uva di Troia' skins and the extraction of total polyphenols and tannins from 'Aglianico' seeds. These results clearly indicate that the grape cultivar mainly influences the release of phenolic compounds from the solid parts of berry to the must especially during postfermentative maceration.