Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains reports on one research project.National Science Foundation (Grant GP-2495)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-334)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496

High temperature properties of sodium, potassium, and cesium thirteenth progress report

Thermophysical properties of sodium, potassium, and cesium at high temperatures - density of liquid potassium and vapor pressure of cesiu

Multipoint Geospace Science in 3D: The Paired Ionosphere-Thermosphere Orbiters(PITO) Mission

The science enabled by the Paired Ionosphere-Thermosphere Orbiters (PITO) mission is described and discussed. PITO has been designed to provide the concurrent, three-dimensional, multipoint measurements needed to advance geospace science while staying within a stringent resource envelope. The mission utilizes a pair of orbiting vehicles in eccentric, high-inclination, coplanar orbits. The orbits have arguments of perigee that differ by 180 degrees and are phased such that one vehicle is at perigee (~200 km) while the second is at apogee (~2000 km). Half an orbit later, the vehicles switch positions. Three complementary types of measurements exploit this scenario: local, in-situ measurements on both satellites, two-dimensional imaging from the higher satellite, and vertical sounders. The main idea is that two-dimensional context information for the low-altitude measurements is obtained by the high altitude imagers, while information on the third dimension is provided by vertical profiling. Such an observation system is capable of providing elements of global coverage, regional coverage, and concurrent coverage in three dimensions. Science goals are presented, as are the results of a detailed implementation plan, including several trade studies on key elements of the mission. The conclusion is that the mission would enable significant new understanding of the ionosphere-thermosphere system within a resource envelope that is consistent with that of NASA's Medium Explorer (MIDEX) line of science missions

Space Environments and Spacecraft Effects Concept: Transitioning Research to Operations and Applications

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is embarking on a course to expand human presence beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) while expanding its mission to explore the solar system. Destinations such as Near Earth Asteroids (NEA), Mars and its moons, and the outer planets are but a few of the mission targets. NASA has established numerous organizations specializing in specific space environments disciplines that will serve to enable these missions. To complement these existing discipline organizations, a concept is presented focusing on the development of a space environment and spacecraft effects organization. This includes space climate, space weather, natural and induced space environments, and effects on spacecraft materials and systems. This space environment and spacecraft effects organization would be comprised of Technical Working Groups (TWG) focusing on, for example: a) Charged Particles (CP), b) Space Environmental Effects (SEE), and c) Interplanetary and Extraterrestrial Environments (IEE). These technical working groups will generate products and provide knowledge supporting four functional areas: design environments, environment effects, operational support, and programmatic support. The four functional areas align with phases in the program mission lifecycle and are briefly described below. Design environments are used primarily in the mission concept and design phases of a program. Environment effects focuses on the material, component, sub-system and system-level selection and the testing to verify design and operational performance. Operational support provides products based on real time or near real time space weather observations to mission operators to aid in real time and near-term decision-making. The programmatic support function maintains an interface with the numerous programs within NASA and other federal agencies to ensure that communications are well established and the needs of the programs are being met. The programmatic support function also includes working in coordination with the program in anomaly resolution and generation of lesson learned documentation. The goal of this space environment and spacecraft effects organization is to develop decision-making tools and engineering products to support the mission phases of mission concept through operations by focusing on transitioning research to application. Products generated by this space environments and spacecraft effects organization are suitable for use in anomaly investigations. This paper will describe the organizational structure for this space environments and spacecraft effects organization, and outline the scope of conceptual TWG's and their relationship to the functional areas

Cell-specific discrimination of desmosterol and desmosterol mimetics confers selective regulation of LXR and SREBP in macrophages.

Activation of liver X receptors (LXRs) with synthetic agonists promotes reverse cholesterol transport and protects against atherosclerosis in mouse models. Most synthetic LXR agonists also cause marked hypertriglyceridemia by inducing the expression of sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)1c and downstream genes that drive fatty acid biosynthesis. Recent studies demonstrated that desmosterol, an intermediate in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway that suppresses SREBP processing by binding to SCAP, also binds and activates LXRs and is the most abundant LXR ligand in macrophage foam cells. Here we explore the potential of increasing endogenous desmosterol production or mimicking its activity as a means of inducing LXR activity while simultaneously suppressing SREBP1c-induced hypertriglyceridemia. Unexpectedly, while desmosterol strongly activated LXR target genes and suppressed SREBP pathways in mouse and human macrophages, it had almost no activity in mouse or human hepatocytes in vitro. We further demonstrate that sterol-based selective modulators of LXRs have biochemical and transcriptional properties predicted of desmosterol mimetics and selectively regulate LXR function in macrophages in vitro and in vivo. These studies thereby reveal cell-specific discrimination of endogenous and synthetic regulators of LXRs and SREBPs, providing a molecular basis for dissociation of LXR functions in macrophages from those in the liver that lead to hypertriglyceridemia

Processing and Transmission of Information

Contains research objectives and reports on three research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant GP-2495)National Institutes of Health (Grant MH-04737-04)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-334)National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Grant NsG-496

Pay What You Want as a Marketing Strategy in Monopolistic and Competitive Markets

Pay What You Want (PWYW) can be an attractive marketing strategy to price discriminate between fair-minded and selfish customers, to fully penetrate a market without giving away the product for free, and to undercut competitors that use posted prices. We report on laboratory experiments that identify causal factors determining the willingness of buyers to pay voluntarily under PWYW. Furthermore, to see how competition affects the viability of PWYW, we implement markets in which a PWYW seller competes with a traditional seller. Finally, we endogenize the market structure and let sellers choose their pricing strategy. The experimental results show that outcome-based social preferences and strategic considerations to keep the seller in the market can explain why and how much buyers pay voluntarily to a PWYW seller. We find that PWYW can be viable in isolation, but it is less successful as a competitive strategy because it does not drive traditional posted-price sellers out of the market. Instead, the existence of a posted-price competitor reduces buyers’ payments and prevents the PWYW seller from fully penetrating the market. If given the choice, the majority of sellers opt for setting a posted price rather than a PWYW pricing. We discuss the implications of these results for the use of PWYW as a marketing strategy

Revival of the magnetar PSR J1622-4950: observations with MeerKAT, Parkes, XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR

New radio (MeerKAT and Parkes) and X-ray (XMM-Newton, Swift, Chandra, and NuSTAR) observations of PSR J1622-4950 indicate that the magnetar, in a quiescent state since at least early 2015, reactivated between 2017 March 19 and April 5. The radio flux density, while variable, is approximately 100x larger than during its dormant state. The X-ray flux one month after reactivation was at least 800x larger than during quiescence, and has been decaying exponentially on a 111+/-19 day timescale. This high-flux state, together with a radio-derived rotational ephemeris, enabled for the first time the detection of X-ray pulsations for this magnetar. At 5%, the 0.3-6 keV pulsed fraction is comparable to the smallest observed for magnetars. The overall pulsar geometry inferred from polarized radio emission appears to be broadly consistent with that determined 6-8 years earlier. However, rotating vector model fits suggest that we are now seeing radio emission from a different location in the magnetosphere than previously. This indicates a novel way in which radio emission from magnetars can differ from that of ordinary pulsars. The torque on the neutron star is varying rapidly and unsteadily, as is common for magnetars following outburst, having changed by a factor of 7 within six months of reactivation.Comment: Published in ApJ (2018 April 5); 13 pages, 4 figure

Pulmonary epithelial barrier and immunological functions at birth and in early life - key determinants of the development of asthma? A description of the protocol for the Breathing Together study

Acknowledgements The authors are indebted to the participants and parents who have already been recruited. We also acknowledge the enthusiasm and endeavour of the research nurse team which includes: Stephen Main, Margaret Connon, Catherine Beveridge, Julie Baggott, Kay Riding, Ellie McCamie, Maria Larsson, Lynda Melvin, Mumtaz Idris, Tara Murray, Nicky Tongue, Nicolene Plaatjies, Sheila Mortimer, Sally Spedding, Susy Grevatt, Victoria Welch, Morag Zelisko, Jillian Doherty, Jane Martin, Emma Macleod and Cilla Snape. We are also delighted to be working alongside the following colleagues in laboratories: Marie Craigon, Marie McWilliam, Maria Zarconi, Judit Barabas, Lindsay Broadbent, Ceyda Oksel and Sheerien Manzoor. Grant information The study is supported by the Wellcome Trust [108818]; and the PHA HSC R&D Division, Northern Ireland.Peer reviewedPublisher PD