Photometry of comet 9P/Tempel 1 during the 2004/2005 approach and the Deep Impact module impact

The results of the 9P/Tempel 1 CARA (Cometary Archive for Amateur Astronomers) observing campaign is presented. The main goal was to perform an extended survey of the comet as a support to the Deep Impact (DI) Mission. CCD R, I and narrowband aperture photometries were used to monitor the $Af\rho$ quantity. The observed behaviour showed a peak of 310 cm 83 days before perihelion, but we argue that it could be distorted by the phase effect, too. The phase effect is roughly estimated around 0.0275 mag/degree, but we had no chance for direct determination because of the very similar geometry of the observed apparitions. The log-slope of $Af\rho$ was around -0.5 between about 180--100 days before the impact but evolved near the steady-state like 0 value by the impact time. The DI module impact caused an about 60%{} increase in the value of $Af\rho$ and a cloud feature in the coma profile which was observed just after the event. The expansion of the ejecta cloud was consistent with a fountain model with initial projected velocity of 0.2 km/s and $\beta$=0.73. Referring to a 25~000 km radius area centered on the nucleus, the total cross section of the ejected dust was 8.2/$A$ km$^2$ 0.06 days after the impact, and 1.2/$A$ km$^2$ 1.93 days after the impact ($A$ is the dust albedo). 5 days after the event no signs of the impact were detected nor deviations from the expected activity referring both to the average pre-impact behaviour and to the previous apparitions ones.Comment: 25 pages (including cover pages), 9 figures, 1 table, accepted by Icarus DI Special Issu

Building Shared Values in the Community: Culture of Health

The zip codes where patients live are stronger determinants of health outcomes than the frequency of visits with a primary care provider. Providers have a unique opportunity to extend health care beyond the clinic walls and engage in efforts to improve the communities where their patients grow, live, work, and age. In order to impact the health of patients, a culture of health needs to be developed. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation culture of health action framework directed the build of a foundation of health as a shared value in a neighborhood with high morbidity and mortality rates in southwest San Antonio, Texas. This community quality improvement intervention was designed to equip participating community members with knowledge, skills, and supplies to be drivers for health as a shared value. Prior to implementation, community surveys assessed perceptions regarding health as a shared value. A one-time class offering opened discussion regarding the effects of stress on heart health. A 7-week class, Health to the Fourth Power, was developed to equip community stakeholders using healthful education, physical activity, community responsibility, and plant-based meal preparation. Post implementation survey results revealed moderate understanding of health interconnectedness. Health to the Fourth Power participants increased daily fruit and vegetable consumption, decreased body mass index, and decreased mean systolic blood pressures. It is imperative for medical providers to advocate for a culture of health in their patients’ communities

65 Cybele in the thermal infrared: Multiple observations and thermophysical analysis

We investigated the physical and thermal properties of 65 Cybele}, one of the largest main-belt asteroids. Based on published and recently obtained thermal infrared observations, including ISO measurements, we derived through thermophysical modelling (TPM) a size of 302x290x232 km (+/- 4 %) and an geometric visible albedo of 0.050+/-0.005. Our model of a regolith covered surface with low thermal inertia and "default" roughness describes the wavelengths and phase angle dependent thermal aspects very well. Before/after opposition effect and beaming behaviour can be explained in that way. We found a constant emissivity of 0.9 at wavelengths up to about 100 micron and lower values towards the submillimetre range, indicating a grain size distribution dominated by 200 micron particle sizes. The spectroscopic analysis revealed an emissivity increase between 8.0 and 9.5 micron. We compared this emissivity behaviour with the Christiansen features of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites, but a conclusive identification was not possible. A comparison between the Standard Thermal Model (STM) and the applied TPM clearly demonstrates the limitations and problems of the STM for the analysis of multi-epoch and -wavelengths observations. While the TPM produced a unique diameter/albedo solution, the calculated STM values varied by +/-30 % and showed clear trends with wavelength and phase angle. Cybele can be considered as a nice textbook case for the thermophysical analysis of combined optical and thermal infrared observations.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication by A&

The NICMOS Snapshot Survey of nearby Galaxies

We present ``snapshot'' observations with the NearInfrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer (NICMOS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) of 94 nearby galaxies from the Revised Shapley Ames Catalog. Images with 0.2 as resolution were obtained in two filters, a broad-band continuum filter (F160W, roughly equivalent to the H-band) and a narrow band filter centered on the Paschen alpha line (F187N or F190N, depending on the galaxy redshift) with the 51x51 as field of view of the NICMOS camera 3. A first-order continuum subtraction is performed, and the resulting line maps and integrated Paschen alpha line fluxes are presented. A statistical analysis indicates that the average Paschen alpha surface brightness {\bf in the central regions} is highest in early-type (Sa-Sb) spirals.Comment: Original contained error in flux calibration. Table 1 now has correct Paschen Alpha fluxes. 14 pages LaTeX with JPEG and PS figures. Also available at http://icarus.stsci.edu/~boeker/publications.htm

Description of Maasai shields and spears

Volume: 9Start Page: 201End Page: 20

Helium exhaust experiments on JET with Type I ELMs in H-mode and with type III ELMs in ITB discharges

An analysis of helium exhaust experiments on JET in the MkII-GB divertor configuration is presented. Helium is pumped by applying an argon frost layer on the divertor cryo pump. Measurement of the helium retention time, tau(He)(*),, is performed in two ways: by the introduction of helium in gas puffs and measurement of the subsequent decay time constant of the helium content, tau(He)(d*); and by helium beam injection and measurement of the helium replacement time, tau(He)(r*). In ELMy H-mode, with plasma configuration optimized for pumping, tau(He)(d*) approximate to 7.2 x tau(E)(th) is achieved, where tau(E)(th) is the thermal energy replacement time. For quasi-steady internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges, the achieved tau(He)(r*) approximate to 4.1 x tau(E)(th) is significantly lower. The achieved helium recycling coefficient, confirmed by an independent measurement to be R-eff approximate to 0.91, is the same in both scenarios. None of the discharges are dominated by core confinement. The difference in tau(He)(*)/tau(E)(th) is instead due to the confinement properties of the edge plasma, which is characterized by Type I ELMs for the H-mode discharges studied, and Type III ELMs for the quasi-steady ITB discharges. This difference is quantified by an independent measurement of the ratio of the helium replacement time with a helium edge source to the energy confinement time

Visual adaptation enhances action sound discrimination

Prolonged exposure, or adaptation, to a stimulus in one modality can bias, but also enhance, perception of a subsequent stimulus presented within the same modality. However, recent research has also found that adaptation in one modality can bias perception in another modality. Here we show a novel crossmodal adaptation effect, where adaptation to a visual stimulus enhances subsequent auditory perception. We found that when compared to no adaptation, prior adaptation to visual, auditory or audiovisual hand actions enhanced discrimination between two subsequently presented hand action sounds. Discrimination was most enhanced when the visual action ‘matched’ the auditory action. In addition, prior adaptation to a visual, auditory or audiovisual action caused subsequent ambiguous action sounds to be perceived as less like the adaptor. In contrast, these crossmodal action aftereffects were not generated by adaptation to the names of actions. Enhanced crossmodal discrimination and crossmodal perceptual aftereffects may result from separate mechanisms operating in audiovisual action sensitive neurons within perceptual systems. Adaptation induced crossmodal enhancements cannot be explained by post-perceptual responses or decisions. More generally, these results together indicate that adaptation is a ubiquitous mechanism for optimizing perceptual processing of multisensory stimuli

Asteroids. From Observations to Models

We will discuss some specific applications to the rotation state and the shapes of moderately large asteroids, and techniques of observations putting some emphasis on the HST/FGS instrument.Comment: to appear in LNP; 28pages; written in 2003; Winter School "Dynamique des Corps Celestes Non Ponctuels et des Anneaux", Lanslevillard (FRANCE

High-dimensional deconstruction of pancreatic cancer identifies tumor microenvironmental and developmental stemness features that predict survival

Numerous cell states are known to comprise the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumor microenvironment (TME). However, the developmental stemness and co-occurrence of these cell states remain poorly defined. Here, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on a cohort of treatment-naive PDAC time-of-diagnosis endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) samples (n = 25). We then combined these samples with surgical resection (n = 6) and publicly available samples to increase statistical power (n = 80). Following annotation into 25 distinct cell states, cells were scored for developmental stemness, and a customized version of the Ecotyper tool was used to identify communities of co-occurring cell states in bulk RNA-seq samples (n = 268). We discovered a tumor microenvironmental community comprised of aggressive basal-like malignant cells, tumor-promoting SPP1+ macrophages, and myofibroblastic cancer-associated fibroblasts associated with especially poor prognosis. We also found a developmental stemness continuum with implications for survival that is present in both malignant cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). We further demonstrated that high-dimensional analyses predictive of survival are feasible using standard-of-care, time-of-diagnosis EUS-FNB specimens. In summary, we identified tumor microenvironmental and developmental stemness characteristics from a high-dimensional gene expression analysis of PDAC using human tissue specimens, including time-of-diagnosis EUS-FNB samples. These reveal new connections between tumor microenvironmental composition, CAF and malignant cell stemness, and patient survival that could lead to better upfront risk stratification and more personalized upfront clinical decision-making