Synthetic aperture radar/LANDSAT MSS image registration

Algorithms and procedures necessary to merge aircraft synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and LANDSAT multispectral scanner (MSS) imagery were determined. The design of a SAR/LANDSAT data merging system was developed. Aircraft SAR images were registered to the corresponding LANDSAT MSS scenes and were the subject of experimental investigations. Results indicate that the registration of SAR imagery with LANDSAT MSS imagery is feasible from a technical viewpoint, and useful from an information-content viewpoint

Modified Bennett-Brassard 1984 Quantum Key Distribution With Two-way Classical Communications

The quantum key distribution protocol without public announcement of bases is equipped with a two-way classical communication symmetric entanglement purification protocol. This modified key distribution protocol is unconditionally secure and has a higher tolerable error rate of 20%, which is higher than previous scheme without public announcement of bases.Comment: 5 pages. To appear in Physical Review

Linking Classical and Quantum Key Agreement: Is There "Bound Information"?

After carrying out a protocol for quantum key agreement over a noisy quantum channel, the parties Alice and Bob must process the raw key in order to end up with identical keys about which the adversary has virtually no information. In principle, both classical and quantum protocols can be used for this processing. It is a natural question which type of protocols is more powerful. We prove for general states but under the assumption of incoherent eavesdropping that Alice and Bob share some so-called intrinsic information in their classical random variables, resulting from optimal measurements, if and only if the parties' quantum systems are entangled. In addition, we provide evidence that the potentials of classical and of quantum protocols are equal in every situation. Consequently, many techniques and results from quantum information theory directly apply to problems in classical information theory, and vice versa. For instance, it was previously believed that two parties can carry out unconditionally secure key agreement as long as they share some intrinsic information in the adversary's view. The analysis of this purely classical problem from the quantum information-theoretic viewpoint shows that this is true in the binary case, but false in general. More explicitly, bound entanglement, i.e., entanglement that cannot be purified by any quantum protocol, has a classical counterpart. This "bound intrinsic information" cannot be distilled to a secret key by any classical protocol. As another application we propose a measure for entanglement based on classical information-theoretic quantities.Comment: Accepted for Crypto 2000. 17 page

Sainfoin – New Data on Anthelmintic Effects and Production in Sheep and Goats

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) are one of the most important problems affecting health and therefore performance and welfare in small ruminant husbandry. The control of these parasites in the past strongly relied on the repeated use of anthelmintic drugs. This has led to nematode populations which are resistant to most of the currently available anthelmintics. Furthermore customer’s demands for organic and residue free animal products are increasing. The aforementioned problems have given a strong impetus for the development of new non-chemical strategies to control GIN. Previous research has pointed out the anthelmintic potential of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) and other tanniferous (CT) feed sources in goats and lambs infected with GIN. A recent Swiss experiment focussed on the use of sainfoin and field bean (Vicia faba, cv. Scirocco) as single CT sources as well as in combination for additional synergic effects, to reduce periparturient GIN egg rise of ewes in late gestation and early lactation. Another experiment with Alpine goats concentrated on the influence of sainfoin on milk performance and cheese quality. The results of these experiments will be presented and discussed in connection with previous knowledge on (i) anthelmintic effects of sainfoin and (ii) the influence of sainfoin administration on performance

Observations of celestial X-ray sources above 20 keV with the high-energy scintillation spectrometer on board OSO 8

High-energy X-ray spectra of the Crab Nebula, Cyg- XR-1, and Cen A were determined from observations with the scintillation spectrometer on board the OSO-8 satellite, launched in June, 1975. Each of these sources was observed over two periods of 8 days or more, enabling a search for day-to-day and year to year variations in the spectral and temporal characteristics of the X-ray emission. No variation in the light curve of the Crab pulsar was found from observations which span a 15-day period in March 1976, with demonstrable phase stability. Transitions associated with the binary phase of Cyg XR-1 and a large change in the emission from Con A are reported

Nesting behaviour influences species-specific gas exchange across avian eggshells

Carefully controlled gas exchange across the eggshell is essential for the development of the avian embryo. Water vapour conductance (GH2O) across the shell, typically measured as mass loss during incubation, has been demonstrated to optimally ensure the healthy development of the embryo while avoiding desiccation. Accordingly, eggs exposed to sub-optimal gas exchange have reduced hatching success. We tested the association between eggshell GH2O and putative life-history correlates of adult birds, ecological nest parameters and physical characteristics of the egg itself to investigate how variation in GH2O has evolved to maintain optimal water loss across a diverse set of nest environments. We measured gas exchange through eggshell fragments in 151 British breeding bird species and fitted phylogenetically controlled, general linear models to test the relationship between GH2O and potential predictor parameters of each species. Of our 17 life-history traits, only two were retained in the final model: wet-incubating parent and nest type. Eggs of species where the parent habitually returned to the nest with wet plumage had significantly higher GH2O than those of parents that returned to the nest with dry plumage. Eggs of species nesting in ground burrows, cliffs and arboreal cups had significantly higher GH2O than those of species nesting on the ground in open nests or cups, in tree cavities and in shallow arboreal nests. Phylogenetic signal (measured as Pagel's λ) was intermediate in magnitude, suggesting that differences observed in the GH2O are dependent upon a combination of shared ancestry and species-specific life history and ecological traits. Although these data are correlational by nature, they are consistent with the hypothesis that parents constrained to return to the nest with wet plumage will increase the humidity of the nest environment, and the eggs of these species have evolved a higher GH2O to overcome this constraint and still achieve optimal water loss during incubation. We also suggest that eggs laid in cup nests and burrows may require a higher GH2O to overcome the increased humidity as a result from the confined nest microclimate lacking air movements through the nest. Taken together, these comparative data imply that species-specific levels of gas exchange across avian eggshells are variable and evolve in response to ecological and physical variation resulting from parental and nesting behaviours

Bromelain protease F9 reduces the CD44 mediated adhesion of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to human umbilical vein endothelial cells

AbstractThe thiol protease bromelain has been shown to remove T-cell CD44 molecules from lymphocytes and to affect T-cell activation. We investigated the effect of a highly purified bromelain protease F9 (F9) on the adhesion of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Preincubation of the lymphocytes with F9 reduced the adherence to about 20% of unstimulated and to about 30% of phorboldibutyrate (P(Bu)2) stimulated lymphocytes. Using flow cytometry, both crude bromelain and protease F9 reduced the expression of CD44, but not of LFA-1, on PBL. F9 was about 10 times more active than crude bromelain; at 2.5 μg/ml of F9 about 97% inhibition of CD44 expression was found. A mAb against CD44 was tested and found to block the F9-induced decrease in PBL-binding to HUVEC. The results indicate that F9 selectively decreases the CD44 mediated binding of PBL to HUVEC

Efficient One-Way Secret-Key Agreement and Private Channel Coding via Polarization

We introduce explicit schemes based on the polarization phenomenon for the tasks of one-way secret key agreement from common randomness and private channel coding. For the former task, we show how to use common randomness and insecure one-way communication to obtain a strongly secure key such that the key construction has a complexity essentially linear in the blocklength and the rate at which the key is produced is optimal, i.e., equal to the one-way secret-key rate. For the latter task, we present a private channel coding scheme that achieves the secrecy capacity using the condition of strong secrecy and whose encoding and decoding complexity are again essentially linear in the blocklength.Comment: 18.1 pages, 2 figures, 2 table