Adaptive Power Control for Space Communications

This paper investigates the implementation of power control techniques for crosslinks communications during a rendezvous scenario of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM). During the rendezvous, NASA requires that the CEV supports two communication links: space-to-ground and crosslink simultaneously. The crosslink will generate excess interference to the space-to-ground link as the distances between the two vehicles decreases, if the output power is fixed and optimized for the worst-case link analysis at the maximum distance range. As a result, power control is required to maintain the optimal power level for the crosslink without interfering with the space-to-ground link. A proof-of-concept will be described and implemented with Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Communications, Standard, and Technology Lab (CSTL)

Political Institutions and Preferences for Social Policy in the Post-communist World

Who supports social policy in the developing world? Most of what we know about micro-level preferences for social policy comes from well-developed, wealthy countries of the OECD, where governments can credibly commit to policy enforcement and implementation. This dissertation explores preferences for social policy in post-communist countries, where weak constraints on the state challenge the welfare state. In doing so, it provides novel insights both into social policy debates in these countries and the coalitions which support (or oppose) social policy. I argue that support for social policy depends on how institutions shape the expectations of actors about the costs they pay into social policy programs versus future benefits. I draw on existing theories of political economy to propose four mechanisms -- misappropriation, contract enforcement, free-riding, and macro-economic risk -- that alter the distribution of winners and losers from social policy. Misappropriation stems from officials' ability to divert funding away from intended uses. While for most this imposes dead-weight costs on social policy, where institutions are poor. the politically well-connected can benefit from diverted funds to decrease social policy costs. The contract enforcement mechanism emerges due to the inability of weakly constrained states to enforce contracts. Predictions are similar to misappropriation, but actors also cannot trust other private actors with control of social policy. Free-riding emerges when bureaucrats are unwilling to expend effort to ensure tax compliance. Again, this imposes dead-weight costs on most, but garners support from tax evaders, who can free-ride. Finally, the macro-economic risk mechanism suggests that macro-economic volatility is heightened in settings with weak institutions, which increases both individual risk and support for social policy. The empirical portion of the dissertation tests the observable implications of each of these mechanisms. Chapter 2 provides a first-cut, cross-national test of part of the argument using micro-level data from a cross-national survey of 28 post-communist countries. I draw on work on informality in the post-communist world to identify individual characteristics associated with tax evasion to test the free-rider mechanism. Consistent with it, I show that those associated with evasion support social policy more where institutions are weaker. Chapter 3 posits that if the mechanisms I propose matter, actors will appeal to the logic of my theory during concrete reform debates. I test this using evidence from the 2001 pension reforms in Russia. I combine analysis of the legislative debates surrounding reform with in-depth content analysis of the Russian media, which draws on an original dataset of all mentions of reform in 352 Russian newspapers, journals, and trade magazines. I show that all four mechanisms were indeed major concerns. Chapter 4 tests the theory at the firm level, using a survey of 666 Russian firms to look at preferences where institutional quality is weak. I test whether firms that I predict support the welfare state in such settings -- those with political connections and a comparative advantage in hiding from the authorities -- actually do so. In addition to providing some support for the misappropriation and free-riding mechanisms, this chapter is a contribution in its own right: it is among the first to use surveys to study firms' preferences for social policy. Finally, chapter 5 uses a survey experiment conducted on 1600 respondents to attempt to understand the ceteris paribus effect of institutions on the average individual. Using a simple framing experiment, I provide three different treatment groups with information about bribery, tax evasion, and the extent to which private pension funds commit fraud to test the misappropriation, free-riding, and contract enforcement mechanisms, respectively. The chapter offers mixed evidence. The dissertation makes contributions to both the study of the welfare state and the political economy of institutions and investment. First, the dissertation explores preferences for social policy in the developing world and introduces institutional quality concerns to this literature. My work particularly focuses attention on the ways certain groups can abuse social policy to pass costs onto others, adding nuance to existing understandings of who benefits from social policy. Second, it advances our understanding of how institutional quality shapes economic decision making and provides evidence as to how different pathologies of poor institutions shape economic decisions

Central Philippine University Senior High School promotional video

Abstract onlyThis Audio-Visual Presentation was designed to promote the CPU Senior high school program and to provide information about the tracks offered. The AVP will include numerous actuations of typography and animations that are currently the trend, as it has proven its effectiveness to attract target audiences and what we, the team, believe will be a crucial part in the success of this study, and will also provide helpful insights and experiences from students and the faculty alike.Includes bibliographical referencesBachelor of Science in Digital Media and Interactive Art

Low-level developmental lead exposure does not predispose to adult alcohol self-administration, but does increase the risk of relapsing to alcohol seeking in mice: Contrasting role of GLT1 and xCT brain expression

Lead (Pb) is a neurotoxic heavy metal pollutant. Despite the efforts to reduce Pb environmental exposure and to prevent Pb poisoning, exposure in human populations persists. Studies of adults with history of childhood lead exposure have consistently demonstrated cognitive impairments that have been associated with sustained glutamate signaling. Additionally, some clinical studies have also found correlations between Pb exposure and increased proclivity to drug addiction. Thus, here we sought to investigate if developmental Pb exposure can increase propensity to alcohol consumption and relapse using an alcohol self-administration paradigm. Because Pb exposure is associated with increased glutamatergic tone, we also studied the effects on the expression of synaptic and non-synaptic glutamate transporters in brain regions associated with drug addiction such as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), dorsomedial striatum (DMS), dorsolateral striatum (DLS), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We found that while developmental Pb exposure did not increase risk for alcohol self-administration, it did play a role in relapsing to alcohol. The effects were associated with differential expression of the glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) and the glutamate/cystine antiporter (xCT). In the NAc and DLS the expression of GLT1 was found to be significantly reduced, while no changes were found in DMS or mPFC. Contrastingly, xCT was found to be upregulated in NAc but downregulated in DLS, with no changes in DMS or mPFC. Our data suggest that lead exposure is involved in relapse to alcohol seeking, an effect that could be associated with downregulation of GLT1 and xCT in the DLS

Immunoregulatory Mechanisms Underlying Prevention of Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer by Probiotic Bacteria

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) increases the risk of colorectal cancer. Probiotic bacteria produce immunoregulatory metabolites in vitro such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid with potent anticarcinogenic effects. This study aimed to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the efficacy of probiotic bacteria in mouse models of cancer. Methodology/Principal Findings: The immune modulatory mechanisms of VSL#3 probiotic bacteria and CLA were investigated in mouse models of inflammation-driven colorectal cancer. Colonic specimens were collected for histopathology, gene expression and flow cytometry analyses. Immune cell subsets in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), spleen and colonic lamina propria lymphocytes (LPL) were phenotypically and functionally characterized. Mice treated with CLA or VSL#3 recovered faster from the acute inflammatory phase of disease and had lower disease severity in the chronic, tumor-bearing phase of disease. Adenoma and adenocarcinoma formation was also diminished by both treatments. VSL#3 increased the mRNA expression of TNF-a, angiostatin and PPAR c whereas CLA decreased COX-2 levels. Moreover, VSL#3-treated mice had increased IL-17 expression in MLN CD4+ T cells and accumulation of Treg LPL and memory CD4+ T cells. Conclusions/Significance: Both CLA and VSL#3 suppressed colon carcinogenesis, although VSL#3 showed greater anticarcinogeni

What scans we will read: imaging instrumentation trends in clinical oncology

Oncological diseases account for a significant portion of the burden on public healthcare systems with associated costs driven primarily by complex and long-lasting therapies. Through the visualization of patient-specific morphology and functional-molecular pathways, cancerous tissue can be detected and characterized non- invasively, so as to provide referring oncologists with essential information to support therapy management decisions. Following the onset of stand-alone anatomical and functional imaging, we witness a push towards integrating molecular image information through various methods, including anato-metabolic imaging (e.g., PET/ CT), advanced MRI, optical or ultrasound imaging. This perspective paper highlights a number of key technological and methodological advances in imaging instrumentation related to anatomical, functional, molecular medicine and hybrid imaging, that is understood as the hardware-based combination of complementary anatomical and molecular imaging. These include novel detector technologies for ionizing radiation used in CT and nuclear medicine imaging, and novel system developments in MRI and optical as well as opto-acoustic imaging. We will also highlight new data processing methods for improved non-invasive tissue characterization. Following a general introduction to the role of imaging in oncology patient management we introduce imaging methods with well-defined clinical applications and potential for clinical translation. For each modality, we report first on the status quo and point to perceived technological and methodological advances in a subsequent status go section. Considering the breadth and dynamics of these developments, this perspective ends with a critical reflection on where the authors, with the majority of them being imaging experts with a background in physics and engineering, believe imaging methods will be in a few years from now. Overall, methodological and technological medical imaging advances are geared towards increased image contrast, the derivation of reproducible quantitative parameters, an increase in volume sensitivity and a reduction in overall examination time. To ensure full translation to the clinic, this progress in technologies and instrumentation is complemented by progress in relevant acquisition and image-processing protocols and improved data analysis. To this end, we should accept diagnostic images as “data”, and – through the wider adoption of advanced analysis, including machine learning approaches and a “big data” concept – move to the next stage of non-invasive tumor phenotyping. The scans we will be reading in 10 years from now will likely be composed of highly diverse multi- dimensional data from multiple sources, which mandate the use of advanced and interactive visualization and analysis platforms powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) for real-time data handling by cross-specialty clinical experts with a domain knowledge that will need to go beyond that of plain imaging

Planck 2015 results: XXV. Diffuse low-frequency Galactic foregrounds

We discuss the Galactic foreground emission between 20 and 100 GHz based on observations by Planck and WMAP. The total intensity in this part of the spectrum is dominated by free-free and spinning dust emission, whereas the polarized intensity is dominated by synchrotron emission. The Commander component-separation tool has been used to separate the various astrophysical processes in total intensity. Comparison with radio recombination line templates verifies the recovery of the free-free emission along the Galactic plane. Comparison of the high-latitude H\u3b1 emission with our free-free map shows residuals that correlate with dust optical depth, consistent with a fraction (\ue2\u2030 30%) of H\u3b1 having been scattered by high-latitude dust. We highlight a number of diffuse spinning dust morphological features at high latitude. There is substantial spatial variation in the spinning dust spectrum, with the emission peak (in I\u3bd) ranging from below 20 GHz to more than 50 GHz. There is a strong tendency for the spinning dust component near many prominent H ii regions to have a higher peak frequency, suggesting that this increase in peak frequency is associated with dust in the photo-dissociation regions around the nebulae. The emissivity of spinning dust in these diffuse regions is of the same order as previous detections in the literature. Over the entire sky, the Commander solution finds more anomalous microwave emission (AME) than the WMAP component maps, at the expense of synchrotron and free-free emission. This can be explained by the difficulty in separating multiple broadband components with a limited number of frequency maps. Future surveys, particularly at 5-20 GHz, will greatly improve the separation by constraining the synchrotron spectrum. We combine Planck and WMAP data to make the highest signal-to-noise ratio maps yet of the intensity of the all-sky polarized synchrotron emission at frequencies above a few GHz. Most of the high-latitude polarized emission is associated with distinct large-scale loops and spurs, and we re-discuss their structure. We argue that nearly all the emission at 40deg > l >-90deg is part of the Loop I structure, and show that the emission extends much further in to the southern Galactic hemisphere than previously recognised, giving Loop I an ovoid rather than circular outline. However, it does not continue as far as the "Fermi bubble/microwave haze", making it less probable that these are part of the same structure. We identify a number of new faint features in the polarized sky, including a dearth of polarized synchrotron emission directly correlated with a narrow, roughly 20deg long filament seen in H\u3b1 at high Galactic latitude. Finally, we look for evidence of polarized AME, however many AME regions are significantly contaminated by polarized synchrotron emission, and we find a 2\u3c3 upper limit of 1.6% in the Perseus region