Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism

The influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals was investigated by analyzing animals grown in the laboratory on diets of constant nitrogen isotopic composition. 
The isotopic composition of the nitrogen in an animal reflects the nitrogen isotopic composition of its diet. The δ^(15)N values of the whole bodies of animals are usually more positive than those of their diets. Different individuals of a species raised on the same diet can have significantly different δ^(15)N values. The variability of the relationship between the δ^(15)N values of animals and their diets is greater for different species raised on the same diet than for the same species raised on different diets. Different tissues of mice are also enriched in ^(15)N relative to the diet, with the difference between the δ^(15)N values of a tissue and the diet depending on both the kind of tissue and the diet involved. The δ^(15)N values of collagen and chitin, biochemical components that are often preserved in fossil animal remains, are also related to the δ^(15)N value of the diet. 
The dependence of the δ^(15)N values of whole animals and their tissues and biochemical components on the δ^(15)N value of diet indicates that the isotopic composition of animal nitrogen can be used to obtain information about an animal's diet if its potential food sources had different δ^(15)N values. The nitrogen isotopic method of dietary analysis probably can be used to estimate the relative use of legumes vs non-legumes or of aquatic vs terrestrial organisms as food sources for extant and fossil animals. However, the method probably will not be applicable in those modern ecosystems in which the use of chemical fertilizers has influenced the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in food sources. 
The isotopic method of dietary analysis was used to reconstruct changes in the diet of the human population that occupied the Tehuacan Valley of Mexico over a 7000 yr span. Variations in the δ^(15)C and δ^(15)N values of bone collagen suggest that C_4 and/or CAM plants (presumably mostly corn) and legumes (presumably mostly beans) were introduced into the diet much earlier than suggested by conventional archaeological analysis.

Influence of Diet On the Distribtion of Nitrogen Isotopes in Animals

Lysine acetylation is a reversible posttranslational modification of proteins and plays a key role in regulating gene expression. Technological limitations have so far prevented a global analysis of lysine acetylation's cellular roles. We used high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify 3600 lysine acetylation sites on 1750 proteins and quantified acetylation changes in response to the deacetylase inhibitors suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid and MS-275. Lysine acetylation preferentially targets large macromolecular complexes involved in diverse cellular processes, such as chromatin remodeling, cell cycle, splicing, nuclear transport, and actin nucleation. Acetylation impaired phosphorylation-dependent interactions of 14-3-3 and regulated the yeast cyclin-dependent kinase Cdc28. Our data demonstrate that the regulatory scope of lysine acetylation is broad and comparable with that of other major posttranslational modifications.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2009/07/16/1175371.DC1/Choudhary-SOM.pdf

Lysine Acetylation Targets Protein Complexes and Co-Regulates Major Cellular Functions

CO line emission represents the most accessible and widely used tracer of the molecular interstellar medium. This renders the translation of observed CO intensity into total H2 gas mass critical to understand star formation and the interstellar medium in our Galaxy and beyond. We review the theoretical underpinning, techniques, and results of efforts to estimate this CO-to-H2 “conversion factor,” XCO, in different environments. In the Milky Way disk, we recommend a conversion factor XCO = 2×10 20 cm −2 (K km s −1 ) −1 with ±30% uncertainty. Studies of other “normal galaxies” return similar values in Milky Way-like disks, but with greater scatter and systematic uncertainty. Departures from this Galactic conversion factor are both observed and expected. Dust-based determinations, theoretical arguments, and scaling relations all suggest that XCO increases with decreasing metallicity, turning up sharply below metallicity ≈ 1/3–1/2 solar in a manner consistent with model predictions that identify shielding as a key parameter. Based on spectral line modeling and dust observations, XCO appears to drop in the central, bright regions of some but not all galaxies, often coincident with regions of bright CO emission and high stellar surface density. This lower XCO is also present in the overwhelmingly molecular interstellar medium of starburst galaxies, where several lines of evidence point to a lower CO-to-H2 conversion factor. At high redshift, direct evidence regarding the conversion factor remains scarce; we review what is known based on dynamical modeling and other arguments. Subject headings: ISM: general — ISM: molecules — galaxies: ISM — radio lines: ISM

/pdf/the-co-to-h2-conversion-factor-26tvppkvj7.pdf

The CO-to-H2 Conversion Factor

The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, launched on 2012 June 13, is the first focusing high-energy X-ray telescope in orbit. NuSTAR operates in the band from 3 to 79 keV, extending the sensitivity of focusing far beyond the ~10 keV high-energy cutoff achieved by all previous X-ray satellites. The inherently low background associated with concentrating the X-ray light enables NuSTAR to probe the hard X-ray sky with a more than 100-fold improvement in sensitivity over the collimated or coded mask instruments that have operated in this bandpass. Using its unprecedented combination of sensitivity and spatial and spectral resolution, NuSTAR will pursue five primary scientific objectives: (1) probe obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity out to the peak epoch of galaxy assembly in the universe (at z ≾ 2) by surveying selected regions of the sky; (2) study the population of hard X-ray-emitting compact objects in the Galaxy by mapping the central regions of the Milky Way; (3) study the non-thermal radiation in young supernova remnants, both the hard X-ray continuum and the emission from the radioactive element ^(44)Ti; (4) observe blazars contemporaneously with ground-based radio, optical, and TeV telescopes, as well as with Fermi and Swift, to constrain the structure of AGN jets; and (5) observe line and continuum emission from core-collapse supernovae in the Local Group, and from nearby Type Ia events, to constrain explosion models. During its baseline two-year mission, NuSTAR will also undertake a broad program of targeted observations. The observatory consists of two co-aligned grazing-incidence X-ray telescopes pointed at celestial targets by a three-axis stabilized spacecraft. Deployed into a 600 km, near-circular, 6° inclination orbit, the observatory has now completed commissioning, and is performing consistent with pre-launch expectations. NuSTAR is now executing its primary science mission, and with an expected orbit lifetime of 10 yr, we anticipate proposing a guest investigator program, to begin in late 2014.

/pdf/the-nuclear-spectroscopic-telescope-array-nustar-high-energy-2oznujlfte.pdf

THE NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPIC TELESCOPE ARRAY (NuSTAR) HIGH-ENERGY X-RAY MISSION

We present an example of compressed sensing magnetic resonance imaging reconstruction where curvelets instead of
wavelets provide a superior sparse basis when coupled to a group sparse representation of chemical exchange saturation
transfer (CEST) imaging of the human breast. Taking a fully sampled CEST acquisition from a healthy volunteer, we
retrospectively undersampled by a factor of four. We find that a group-sparse formulation of the reconstruction coupled
with either Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau 9/7 wavelets or curvelets provided superior results to a spatial-only regularized
reconstruction. Between the group sparse reconstructions, the curvelet-regularized reconstruction outperformed the
wavelet-regularized reconstruction.

Curvelets as a sparse basis for compressed sensing magnetic resonance imaging

The evolution of shrinkage and mass during drying of kaolin and alumina green bodies was characterized. Standard practise uses a position sensor with simultaneous mass measurement. In this work an optical method was developed to follow shrinkage in two orthogonal directions. Green body samples were made by pressing of ceramic pastes. Results have been compared through the well known Bigot curves which show two distinct stages. First a linear shrinkage with the evaporated water loss is observed. Then in the second stage with further water loss, negligible dimension changes occur. For each material, the overall shrinkage values are identical in the two directions parallel to the pressing axis, but higher in the pressing direction. This difference is related to the shaping method yielding a preferential orientation of grains. Anisotropy in shrinkage is more significant for kaolin with tabular shaped grains compared to the more isometric grains of alumina.

Optical method for evaluation of shrinkage in two dimensions during drying of ceramic green bodies

This work addresses the development of an eventual low cost ceramic insulating or microfiltration membrane supports from inexpensive raw materials such Eloued quartz sand (EQS) and calcium phosphate (CP) using uniaxially dry compaction method. The prepared samples were sintered at different temperatures ranging between 1200 and 1550 oC. Subsequently, the effects of sintering temperature and amount of CP on samples proprieties were investigated. It is observed that X-ray diffracion measurements confirmed that EQS was transformed into cristobalite and tridymite phases when both sintering temperature and holding time were increased. This transformation is favored with increasing amount of CP, it is observed also formation of CaSiO3 and Ca(Fe)(Al)PO4. The SEM images of the samples sintered at different temperatures illustrate that silica grains, CP grains, intergranular phase contents (Si, Ca, P, and O) and an important open porosity depend on the sintering temperature. The porosity ratio changes in the range between 37% and 34% according to sintering temperature and to CP content; these values are in good agreement with SEM images. The thermal expansion behavior shows a weak expansion in the range of temperature between 600 and 1000 oC which is situated between 1.27% and 1.33% (variation of 0.05% at 400 oC).

/pdf/effect-of-calcium-phosphate-addition-on-sintering-of-el-oued-459qjwxp8z.pdf

Effect of calcium phosphate addition on sintering of El-Oued sand quartz raw materials

Idiopathic Enlargement of the Extraocular Muscles in Young Patients: A Case Series.

Systems and methods for processing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data are provided. A method includes receiving MRI data comprising a plurality of k-space points and deriving a plurality of image data sets based on the MRI data, each of the plurality of MRI image sets obtained by zeroing a different one of the plurality of k-space points. The method further includes computing image space metric values for each of the plurality of image data sets and adjusting a portion of the MRI data associated with ones of the image space metric values that fail to meet a threshold value to yield adjusted MRI data.

David S. Smith

Papers

Curvelets as a sparse basis for compressed sensing magnetic resonance imaging

Optical method for evaluation of shrinkage in two dimensions during drying of ceramic green bodies

Effect of calcium phosphate addition on sintering of El-Oued sand quartz raw materials

Idiopathic Enlargement of the Extraocular Muscles in Young Patients: A Case Series.

Automatic detection and correction of magnetic resonance imaging data