Optical velocity field mapping of G292.0+1.8 in the [0III] λ5007 å line has been carried out using the IPCS with the 3.6 m ESO telescope at La Silla. Our data are not consistent with the suggestion that the [0III] emitting material in the western portion of this remnant is concentrated in an expanding ring. The existing data on G292.0+1.8 suggests that only the brightest portion of a thick shell of ejecta with high velocity spurs is observed. The expansion centroid, size, velocity and age of this SNR are derived.

Thermoelectronic energy conversion can potentially provide an exceptionally efficient way to convert heat into electric power. Key components of such converters are materials with designed, small work functions. We present the principles of thermoelectronic energy conversion and discuss the advantages and challenges of the conversion process, as well the state of the art of the respective research.

Experiments on the National Ignition Facility show that multi-dimensional effects currently dominate the implosion performance. Low mode implosion symmetry and hydrodynamic instabilities seeded by capsule mounting features appear to be two key limiting factors for implosion performance. One reason these factors have a large impact on the performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions is the high convergence required to achieve high fusion gains. To tackle these problems, a predictable implosion platform is needed meaning experiments must trade-off high gain for performance. LANL has adopted three main approaches to develop a one-dimensional (1D) implosion platform where 1D means measured yield over the 1D clean calculation. A high adiabat, low convergence platform is being developed using beryllium capsules enabling larger case-to-capsule ratios to improve symmetry. The second approach is liquid fuel layers using wetted foam targets. With liquid fuel layers, the implosion convergence can be controlled via the initial vapor pressure set by the target fielding temperature. The last method is double shell targets. For double shells, the smaller inner shell houses the DT fuel and the convergence of this cavity is relatively small compared to hot spot ignition. However, double shell targets have a different set of trade-off versus advantages. Details for each of these approaches are described.

Let $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ be a vector space of dimension $n$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q}$ . A  $q$ -analog of a Steiner system (also known as a $q$ -Steiner system), denoted ${\mathcal{S}}_{q}(t,\!k,\!n)$ , is a set ${\mathcal{S}}$ of $k$ -dimensional subspaces of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ such that each $t$ -dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{F}_{q}^{n}$ is contained in exactly one element of ${\mathcal{S}}$ . Presently, $q$ -Steiner systems are known only for $t\,=\,1\!$ , and in the trivial cases $t\,=\,k$ and $k\,=\,n$ . In this paper, the first nontrivial $q$ -Steiner systems with $t\,\geqslant \,2$ are constructed. Specifically, several nonisomorphic $q$ -Steiner systems ${\mathcal{S}}_{2}(2,3,13)$ are found by requiring that their automorphism groups contain the normalizer of a Singer subgroup of $\text{GL}(13,2)$ . This approach leads to an instance of the exact cover problem, which turns out to have many solutions.

This paper describes the system architecture of a newly constructed radio telescope – the Boolardy engineering test array, which is a prototype of the Australian square kilometre array pathfinder telescope. Phased array feed technology is used to form multiple simultaneous beams per antenna, providing astronomers with unprecedented survey speed. The test array described here is a six-antenna interferometer, fitted with prototype signal processing hardware capable of forming at least nine dual-polarisation beams simultaneously, allowing several square degrees to be imaged in a single pointed observation. The main purpose of the test array is to develop beamforming and wide-field calibration methods for use with the full telescope, but it will also be capable of limited early science demonstrations.

This white paper identifies knowledge gaps and new challenges in healthcare epidemiology research, assesses the progress made toward addressing research priorities, provides the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) Research Committee's recommendations for high-priority research topics, and proposes a road map for making progress toward these goals. It updates the 2010 SHEA Research Committee document, “Charting the Course for the Future of Science in Healthcare Epidemiology: Results of a Survey of the Membership of SHEA,” which called for a national approach to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and a prioritized research agenda. This paper highlights recent studies that have advanced our understanding of HAIs, the establishment of the SHEA Research Network as a collaborative infrastructure to address research questions, prevention initiatives at state and national levels, changes in reporting and payment requirements, and new patterns in antimicrobial resistance.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

The future of centimetre and metre-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries that will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. Most of the key science for the SKA will be addressed through large-area imaging of the Universe at frequencies from a few hundred MHz to a few GHz. The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a technology demonstrator aimed in the mid-frequency range, and achieves instantaneous wide-area imaging through the development and deployment of phased-array feed systems on parabolic reflectors. The large field-of-view makes ASKAP an unprecedented synoptic telescope that will make substantial advances in SKA key science. ASKAP will be located at the Murchison Radio Observatory in inland Western Australia, one of the most radio-quiet locations on the Earth and one of two sites selected by the international community as a potential location for the SKA. In this paper, we outline an ambitious science program for ASKAP, examining key science such as understanding the evolution, formation and population of galaxies including our own, understanding the magnetic Universe, revealing the transient radio sky and searching for gravitational waves.

Polyurethanes are widely used, from medical devices to electrical materials to consumer goods. These materials have chemical stability issues which impact the mechanical stability. Infrared micro spectroscopy has been used to study polyurethane degradation, but due to experimental limitations, samples examined were no smaller than approximately 15 microns on a side. Because of the complex chemistry of urethanes, chemical examination of the material on a much higher spatial resolution scale would be valuable.

A relatively new technique, Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrochemical MicroImaging has been used to examine degraded polyester urethanes. Rather than using a single-element detector, a two dimensional array detector generates thousands of spectra simultaneously. In addition, a germanium prism generates a magnification effect; resulting in a significantly higher spatial resolution. The net output of the analysis is a hypercube of high resolution infrared spectra showing urethane degradation progression on a much smaller spatial scale than was previously possible.

Antenatal corticosteroids are used to augment fetal lung maturity in human pregnancy. Dexamethasone (DEX) is also used to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia of the fetus in early pregnancy. We previously reported effects of synthetic corticosteroids given to sheep in early or late gestation on pregnancy length and fetal cortisol levels and glucocorticoids alter plasma insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP) concentrations in late pregnancy and reduce fetal weight. The effects of administering DEX in early pregnancy on fetal organ weights and betamethasone (BET) given in late gestation on weights of fetal brain regions or organ development have not been reported. We hypothesized that BET or DEX administration at either stage of pregnancy would have deleterious effects on fetal development and associated hormones. In early pregnancy, DEX was administered as four injections at 12-hourly intervals over 48 h commencing at 40–42 days of gestation (dG). There was no consistent effect on fetal weight, or individual fetal organ weights, except in females at 7 months postnatal age. When BET was administered at 104, 111 and 118 dG, the previously reported reduction in total fetal weight was associated with significant reductions in weights of fetal brain, cerebellum, heart, kidney and liver. Fetal plasma insulin, leptin and triiodothyronine were also reduced at different times in fetal and postnatal life. We conclude that at the amounts given, the sheep fetus is sensitive to maternal administration of synthetic glucocorticoid in late gestation, with effects on growth and metabolic hormones that may persist into postnatal life.

The damage of reactive ion etching to shallow junctions is an important consideration in advanced technology.In this paper, the damage incurred during contact etch is studied, with emphasis on those defects responsible for junction leakage of shallow junctions.Shallow p+/n and n+/p junctions have been prepared with depths of 160 nm.Junction leakage measurements have been made for various amounts of silicon loss up to within 20 nm of the junctions by using a CHF3 + CO2 plasma.The degree of chemical and structural damage has been characterized by using photoluminescence, SIMS, and spreading carrier profiling.

The leakage current density was found to depend strongly on contact area and increase rapidly with junction etch depth after the etched surface has extended to within 80 nm of the junction boundary.The concentration and depth of damage increases with increasing plasma exposure until saturation.Etching induced defects are observed in photoluminescence, and one such defect is identified as a carbon interstitialcy.Enhanced diffusion effects were observed for both chemical contamination from the etch gas and the junction dopants.The spatial distribution of the chemical and structural damage has been found to correlate with the junction leakages.The annealing behavior of damage has also been investigated.

A novel kind of hydroxyl formation during the processing of quartz glass tubes with oxy-hydrogen burners was found and studied in detail by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The formation mechanism involving hydrogen penetration from the flame and following reactions is discussed.

We model the dynamics of the human tear film during relaxation (after a blink) using lubrication theory and explore the effects of viscosity, surface tension, gravity and boundary conditions that specify the flux of tear fluid into or out of the domain. The governing nonlinear partial differential equation is solved on an overset grid by a method of lines using finite differences in space and an adaptive second-order backward difference formula solver in time. Our simulations in a two-dimensional domain are computed in the Overture computational framework. The flow around the boundary is sensitive to both our choice of flux boundary condition and the presence of gravity. The simulations recover features seen in one-dimensional simulations and capture some experimental observations of tear film dynamics around the lid margins. In some instances, the influx from the lacrimal gland splits with some fluid going along the upper lid towards the nasal canthus and some travelling around the temporal canthus and then along the lower lid. Tear supply can also push through some parts of the black line near the eyelid margins.

We present the results of eighteen non-continuous nights of time series photometric observations of a 1.25 deg2 field in Cygnus centered on the NASA Kepler Mission field of view. Using the Case Western Burrell Schmidt telescope we gathered a dataset containing light curves of roughly 30,000 stars with 14 < r < 19. We have statistically examined each light curve to test for variability, periodicity, and unusual light curve trends, including exoplanet transits. We present a summary of our photometric project including a characterization of the level and content of stellar variability in this field. We will also discuss our potential exoplanet candidates.

The NASA Star and Exoplanet Database (NStED) is a general purpose stellar archive with the aim of providing support for NASA's planet finding and characterization goals, stellar astrophysics, and the planning of NASA and other space missions. There are two principal components of NStED: a database of (currently) 140,000 nearby stars and exoplanet-hosting stars, and an archive dedicated to high precision photometric surveys for transiting exoplanets. We present a summary of the NStED stellar database, functionality, tools, and user interface. NStED currently serves the following kinds of data for 140,000 stars (where available): coordinates, multiplicity, proper motion, parallax, spectral type, multiband photometry, radial velocity, metallicity, chromospheric and coronal activity index, and rotation velocity/period. Furthermore, the following derived quantities are given wherever possible: distance, effective temperature, mass, radius, luminosity, space motions, and physical/angular dimensions of habitable zone. Queries to NStED can be made using constraints on any combination of the above parameters. In addition, NStED provides tools to derive specific inferred quantities for the stars in the database, cross-referenced with available extra-solar planetary data for those host stars. NStED can be accessed at http://nsted.ipac.caltech.edu.

The NASA Star and Exoplanet Database (NStED) is a general purpose stellar archive with the aim of providing support for NASA's planet finding and characterization goals, stellar astrophysics, and the planning of NASA and other space missions. There are two principal components of NStED: a database of (currently) 140,000 nearby stars and exoplanet-hosting stars, and an archive dedicated to high-precision photometric surveys for transiting exoplanets. We present a summary of the latter component: the NStED Exoplanet Transit Survey Service (NStED-ETSS), along with its content, functionality, tools, and user interface. NStED-ETSS currently serves data from the TrES Survey of the Kepler Field as well as dedicated photometric surveys of four stellar clusters. NStED-ETSS aims to serve both the surveys and the broader astronomical community by archiving these data and making them available in a homogeneous format. Examples of usability of ETSS include investigation of any time-variable phenomena in data sets not studied by the original survey team, application of different techniques or algorithms for planet transit detections, combination of data from different surveys for given objects, statistical studies, etc. NStED-ETSS can be accessed at http://nsted.ipac.caltech.edu.

We consider model problems for the tear film over multiple blink cycles in limits that yield a single equation for the tear film; the single nonlinear partial differential equation that governs the film thickness arises from lubrication theory. The two models arise from considering the absence of naturally occurring surfactant and the case when the surfactant strongly affects the surface tension. The film is considered on a sinusoidally varying domain length with specified film thickness and volume flux at each end; only one end of the domain is moving, which is analogous to the upper eyelid moving with each blink. A main contribution of this article is computation of solutions for multiple complete blink cycles; the results of these non-trivial computations show a distinct similarity to quantitative in vivo observations of the tear film under partial blink conditions. A transition between periodic and non-periodic solutions has been estimated and this may be a criterion for what is effectively a full blink according to fluid dynamic considerations.

Wheat is grown on 210 million ha throughout the world producing approximately 600 million tonnes of grain (10 year average; FAO 2005) and providing on average one fifth of the total calorific input of the world's population (FAO 2003). For some regions such as North Africa, Turkey and Central Asia, wheat provides half of total dietary energy intake. Of the cultivated wheat area, half is located in less developed countries where there have been steady increases in productivity since the green revolution, associated with genetic improvements in yield potential, resistance to diseases and adaptation to abiotic stresses (Reynolds & Borlaug 2006a, b) as well as better agronomic practices (Derpsch 2005). Nonetheless, challenges to wheat production are still considerable, especially in the developing world, not only because of increased demand but also because of the increased scarcity of water resources (Rosegrant 1997; WMO 1997), ever more unpredictable climates (Fischer et al. 2002), increased urbanization and loss of good quality land away from agriculture (Hobbs 2007), and decreased public sector investment in agriculture and rural affairs (Falcon & Naylor 2005). To meet demand in a sustainable way, more resources are required to breed a new generation of genetically improved cultivars as well as implement resource-conserving agronomic management practices.