Planetary photography- Television camera for a geological survey of the planet Mars

High resolution electronic camera mounted on spacecraft for geological survey of planet Mar

Reduced bandwidth video communication system utilizing sampling techniques Patent

Monitoring circuit design for sampling circuit control and reduction of time-bandwidth in video communication system

Digital television camera control system Patent

TV camera output signal control system for digital spacecraft communicatio

Population Biology and Interactions of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Their Benefits in Strawberry Cultivation

The diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and relative abundance among species may affect their ecological impact. Species-specific primers for qPCR quantification of Funneliformis geosporus and F.mosseae DNA were developed to quantify their relative abundance for use in studying mixed inocula in roots of strawberry under different conditions of water stress. Co-occupation of the same root by both species was shown to commonly occur but the relative abundance of the two species varied with water stress. Greater root colonisation was observed microscopically under water stress but this increased colonisation was often accompanied with decreased amounts of fungal DNA in the root. Funneliformis mosseae tended to become more abundant under water stress relative to F. geosporus. There was significant correlation in the fungal colonisation measurements from the microscopic and qPCR methods under some conditions, but the nature of this relationship varied greatly with AMF inoculum and abiotic conditions. Water stress experiments, undertaken with strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) show a reduction of plant development when subjected to regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) conditions. The effect on growth of AMF colonisation and relative abundance of two co-occurring species of AMF, F. geosporus and F. mosseae, were determined in cultivated strawberry under conditions of water stress. Three AMF inoculation treatments (a single treatment either of F. mosseae BEG25, F. geosporus BEG11 or a 50:50 mixed inoculation treatment of both species) were compared to un-inoculated plants. This study demonstrated that in strawberry plants, under these experimental conditions, single species inoculation treatments gave similar benefits to the host as the mixed inoculation treatment regardless of irrigation regime, suggesting colonisation was of greater importance than mycorrhizal fungal species. The addition of AMF inocula to plants, subjected to reduced irrigation of up to 40%, restored plant growth to the same or higher values as the non-mycorrhizal, fully-watered plants. The water use efficiency of plants was greater under the RDI regime and in AMF-inoculated plants, but there were no significant differences between plants inoculated with the single or combined inoculum. The occurrence of multiple variant sequences within the rRNA genes of the AMF is now widely accepted; however the mechanisms for this are not currently clear. This work investigated the effect of different culture conditions (in vitro and in planta culture) on sequence diversity and relative abundance of a culture of Rhizophagus clarus. Next generation sequencing, using the Illumina platform, generated three major sequence variants that were the most common sequence variants in all conditions. All other sequences grouped phylogenetically about these three major sequence types along with an outgroup of less common sequence types. This study demonstrated that changes in the frequency of dominant sequence variants had occurred when AMF are maintained for two years under different culture conditions

Are allergen batch differences and the use of double skin prick test important?

BACKGROUND: Skin prick tests (SPT) are widely used both in clinical diagnostics and in research. The standardization of allergen extracts is well documented to be crucial for the validity of SPT, whereas less emphasis has been placed on reproducibility and the SPT procedure itself. The objectives of this study are to clarify how the double skin prick test procedure influence the sensitivity and specificity of the test and to analyse the differences in weal size in skin prick tests between two batches of allergen extracts from the same vendor. METHODS: The association between rhinitis and SPT was assessed among 1135 persons from a general population sample. SPT was performed twice with 10 common aeroallergens. In a subsample of 90 persons SPT was performed simultaneously with five of the allergens using different batches. RESULTS: Thirty percent had at least one positive SPT. Among asthmatics this number was 62%. Only minor differences were seen between the sizes of two weals from the same batch. A second SPT with the same batch did not change the association between rhinitis and sensitization. When performing SPT with two different batches disagreement was observed in 2% (Birch) to 11% (Cat) of the subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Performing SPT twice with the same allergen batch does not enhance the validity of the test, and value of double testing can be questioned. Considerable differences in SPT response with different batches from the same manufacturer were observed. Thus inter batch differences in allergen extracts might be a source of variability

The Color Sense

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Probing the Local Velocity Distribution of WIMP Dark Matter with Directional Detectors

We explore the ability of directional nuclear-recoil detectors to constrain the local velocity distribution of weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter by performing Bayesian parameter estimation on simulated recoil-event data sets. We discuss in detail how directional information, when combined with measurements of the recoil-energy spectrum, helps break degeneracies in the velocity-distribution parameters. We also consider the possibility that velocity structures such as cold tidal streams or a dark disk may also be present in addition to the Galactic halo. Assuming a carbon-tetrafluoride detector with a 30-kg-yr exposure, a 50-GeV WIMP mass, and a WIMP-nucleon spin-dependent cross-section of 0.001 pb, we show that the properties of a cold tidal stream may be well constrained. However, measurement of the parameters of a dark-disk component with a low lag speed of ~50 km/s may be challenging unless energy thresholds are improved.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure

Status of the LUX Dark Matter Search

The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter search experiment is currently being deployed at the Homestake Laboratory in South Dakota. We will highlight the main elements of design which make the experiment a very strong competitor in the field of direct detection, as well as an easily scalable concept. We will also present its potential reach for supersymmetric dark matter detection, within various timeframes ranging from 1 year to 5 years or more.Comment: 4 pages, in proceedings of the SUSY09 conferenc