With many non-human primates (NHPs) showing continued population decline, there is an ongoing need to better understand their ecology and conservation threats. One such threat is the risk of disease, with various bacterial, viral and parasitic infections previously reported to have damaging consequences for NHP hosts. Strongylid nematodes are one of the most commonly reported parasitic infections in NHPs. Current knowledge of NHP strongylid infections is restricted by their typical occurrence as mixed infections of multiple genera, which are indistinguishable through traditional microscopic approaches. Here, modern metagenomics approaches were applied for insight into the genetic diversity of strongylid infections in South-East and East Asian NHPs. We hypothesized that strongylid nematodes occur in mixed communities of multiple taxa, dominated by Oesophagostomum, matching previous findings using single-specimen genetics. Utilizing the Illumina MiSeq platform, ITS-2 strongylid metabarcoding was applied to 90 samples from various wild NHPs occurring in Malaysian Borneo and Japan. A clear dominance of Oesophagostomum aculeatum was found, with almost all sequences assigned to this species. This study suggests that strongylid communities of Asian NHPs may be less species-rich than those in African NHPs, where multi-genera communities are reported. Such knowledge contributes baseline data, assisting with ongoing monitoring of health threats to NHPs.

Background: Cerebellar atrophy is characterized by loss of cerebellar tissue, with evidence on brain imaging of enlarged interfolial spaces compared to the foliae. Genetic ataxias associated with cerebellar atrophy are a heterogeneous group of disorders. We investigated the prevalence in Canada and the diagnostic yield of whole exome sequencing (WES) for this group of conditions. Methods: Between 2011 and 2017, WES was performed in 91 participants with cerebellar atrophy as part of one of two national research programs, Finding of Rare Genetic Disease Genes (FORGE) or Enhanced Care for Rare Genetic Diseases in Canada (Care4Rare). Results: A genetic diagnosis was established in 58% of cases (53/91). Pathogenic variants were found in 24 known genes, providing a diagnosis for 46/53 participants (87%), and in four novel genes, accounting for 7/53 cases (13%). 38/91 cases (42%) remained unsolved. The most common diagnoses were channelopathies in 12/53 patients (23%) and mitochondrial disorders in 9/53 (17%). Inheritance was autosomal recessive in the majority of cases. Additional clinical findings provided useful clues to some of the diagnoses. Conclusions: This is the first report on the prevalence of genetic ataxias associated with cerebellar atrophy in Canada, and the utility of WES for this group of conditions.

The ice-proximal diamict sediment deposited on the foreset of a grounding zone wedge in Glomar Challenger Basin on the eastern Ross Sea continental shelf yielded a low abundance assemblage of foraminifera at two piston core sites. We found 302 small well-preserved specimens representing 18 species of benthic foraminifera from 825 ml of sediment. Only three poorly preserved specimens of the planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) were found. Our combined analyses of preservation state, assemblage composition and stable isotopes suggest that the benthic foraminifera may be in situ. This possibility is of interest to palaeoclimatologists who use ice-proximal sediments on the Antarctic continental shelves to radiocarbon date the post-glacial retreat history.

We have obtained deep g, r, and i-band Subaru and ultra-deep 3.6 μm IRAC images of parts of the multiply-wrapped stellar stream around the nearby edge-on galaxy NGC 5907. We have fitted the surface brightness measurements of the stream with FSPS stellar population synthesis models to derive the metallicity and age of the brightest parts of the stream. The resulting relatively high metallicity ([Fe/H] = −0.3) is consistent with a major merger scenario but a satellite accretion event cannot be ruled out.

High Speed Sintering (HSS) is a novel additive manufacturing technology which currently uses Nylon 12 as the standard feedstock material. To expand the number of processable materials, the preferred characteristics of polymeric powder as a feedstock powder are presented, appropriate materials identified, parts made, and mechanical properties measured. Two commercially available laser sintering (LS) grade powders previously untested for HSS were selected, DuraForm® HST10 and ALM TPE 210-S. Tensile test specimens were manufactured using each material and mechanical properties analyzed and compared to the manufacturers' specification for LS. Tensile test specimens built using DuraForm® PA show higher tensile strength and elongation at break than LS whereas DuraForm® HST10 shows somewhat reduced tensile strength but slightly increased elongation at break. ALM TPE 210-S shows elongation at break of more than double that of LS demonstrating the capability of HSS to process viscous materials. The results indicate that HSS is capable of processing LS grade polymeric powders and may extend beyond.

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

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

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

We present the first systematic comparison of the detailed properties, including internal kinematics, chemical abundances, sizes, and dark matter masses, of Milky Way and M 31 dSphs as a part of the SPLASH Survey (Spectroscopic and Photometric Landscape of Andromeda’s Stellar Halo). Through Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of several hundred individual red giants in a half dozen M 31 galaxies, our results indicate both similarities and differences between the family of dSphs in the Milky Way and M 31. For example, we find that the luminosity-metallicity relation of dSphs in the two hosts is very similar between L = 105 and 107 L⊙, the size distribution of M 31 dSphs extends to larger values at the same luminosity compared to Milky Way counterparts (especially at the bright end), and that the dark matter masses of M 31 dSphs are slightly smaller than similar luminosity Milky Way galaxies.

The business meeting of Commission 45 was held on Friday, 7 August. It was attended by the Vice-President of the Commission (who chaired the meeting in the absence of the President) as well as nine other members of the Commission. Attendance was limited, as usual, by the unavoidable occurrence of parallel sessions.

Rapid rotation in red giant stars may be one signature of the past engulfment of a planetary companion. Models of the future tidal interaction of known exoplanet host stars with their planets show that many of these stars will accrete one or more of their planets, and the orbital angular momentum of these accreted planets is sometimes sufficient to spin up the host stars to a level commonly accepted as “rapid rotation” for giant stars. Planets accreted during the red giant phase should leave behind a chemical signature in the form of unusual abundance patterns in the host red giant's atmosphere. Proposed signatures of planet accretion include the enhancement of Li and 12C; both species are generally depleted in giant star atmospheres by convection but could be replenished by planet accretion. Moreover, accreted planets may preferentially enhance the stellar abundance of refractory elements assuming that the refractory nature of these elements leads to their relative enhancements in the planets themselves. Here we present preliminary results of a search for these predicted chemical signatures through high resolution spectroscopic abundance analysis of both rapidly rotating giant stars (i.e., stars with a higher probability of having experienced planet accretion) and normally rotating giant stars. We find that the rapid rotators are enhanced in Li relative to the slow rotators — a result consistent with Li replenishment through planet absorption.

We present high-resolution spectroscopic measurements of the abundances of the α-like element titanium (Ti) and s-process elements yttrium (Y) and lanthanum (La) for M giant candidates of (a) the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf spheroidal + tidal tail system, (b) the Triangulum-Andromeda (TriAnd) Star Cloud, and (c) the Galactic Anticenter Stellar Structure (GASS, or Monoceros Stream). All three systems show abundance patterns unlike the Milky Way but typical of dwarf galaxies. The Sgr system abundance patterns resemble those of the Large Magellanic Cloud. GASS/Mon chemically resembles Sgr but is distinct from TriAnd, a result that does not support previous suggestions that TriAnd is a piece of the Monoceros Stream.

This report gives an update of developments (since the last General Assembly at Prague) in the areas that are of relevance to the commission. In addition to numerous papers, a new monograph entitled Stellar Spectral Classification with Richard Gray and Chris Corbally as leading authors will be published by Princeton University Press as part of their Princeton Series in Astrophysics in April 2009. This book is an up-to-date and encyclopedic review of stellar spectral classification across the H-R diagram, including the traditional MK system in the blue-violet, recent extensions into the ultraviolet and infrared, the newly defined L-type and T-type spectral classes, as well as spectral classification of carbon stars, S-type stars, white dwarfs, novae, supernovae and Wolf-Rayet stars.

We describe an ongoing, large-scale, photometric and spectroscopic survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) periphery. This survey uses Washington M, T2 + DDO51 photometry to identify distant LMC red giant branch (RGB) star candidates; multi-object spectroscopy is used to confirm the stellar surface gravities of these RGB stars and their association with the LMC (e.g., through radial velocities). The survey now encompasses hundreds of fields ranging from the LMC center with full azimuthal coverage around the LMC and out to 23° from the LMC center. We have confirmed the existence of RGB stars with (the unusual) Magellanic velocities out to the radial limit of this survey coverage. From data in a subsample of these fields, we show that this extended population of stars makes up a diffuse structure enveloping the LMC with a two-dimensional distribution resembling a classical halo with a shallow de Vaucouleurs profile and a broad metallicity spread around a typical mean value of [Fe/H] ~ −1.0.

We present preliminary results from a proper motion study of the Carina dwarf spheroidal galaxy. Our proper motions show a scatter of ~1.1 mas yr−1 per Carina member star, and we determinate the mean ensemble motion to an accuracy of ~7 mas century−1. While this is a precise measurement of the relative proper motions of Carina members, our correction to an absolute frame is limited by the small number of measured QSOs in the field.

We report the results of a survey of late-type giants aimed at understanding the nature of the disk and nearby halo Galactic stellar populations. We have obtained medium resolution (2–4 Å) spectra for 749 late K and early M giants at mid-latitudes selected from the 2MASS catalog with the FOBOS system at Fan Mountain Observatory. These spectra provide radial velocities (RVs) at the 5 km s−1 level, spectroscopic [Fe/H] good to σ[Fe/H] = 0.25 dex, and information on the relative abundances of Mg/Fe and Na/Fe in these stars. Proper motions from UCAC2 are used to search for local substructures, in particular the leading arm of the Sagittarius tidal streamer passing through the solar neighborhood. The combined proper motions and RVs yield full 6D stellar space motions. We have, by way of kinematics, relatively cleanly isolated the thick disk from the typically high velocity substructures that compose the nearby halo.

We find evidence for substructure in the kinematics and metallicities of local halo stars.

Crystalline, pure or Mn-doped ZnGa2O4 powders have been prepared in situ in urea (with or without enzyme urease)-containing Zn and Ga nitrate (and Mn nitrate) solutions by simply holding those for 24–48 h, at 90 °C, in screw-capped glass bottles in a constant-temperature laboratory oven. Single-phase pure or Mn-doped zinc gallate powders synthesized with the spinel crystal structure had an average particle size around 15 to 18 nm. Powders were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, inductively-coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, and carbon and nitrogen analyses. Calcination behavior of the as-filtered powders was later studied in an air atmosphere over the temperature range of 90 to 1200 °C.

NASA’s Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), scheduled for launch in 2009, will determine the positions of thousands of stars as faint as V = 20 to a precision better than 4 microarcseconds (µas). A key part of the mission is the Astrometric Grid, which is a reference frame of several thousand stars with V ≤ 13 against which all relative measurements will be calibrated. To serve as a reliable inertial reference frame, the Grid must be astrometrically stable against photocenter jitter (from planets, binary companions, flaring or spotting) at the ~ 4µas level. Sub–solar metallicity giant stars, by virtue of their intrinsic luminosity, can probe the Galaxy to greater distances than almost any other stellar type at the same apparent magnitude. Thus, distant (> 3 kpc) giants with V < 13 will have proportionately smaller astrometric jitter compared to other potential Astrometric Grid star candidates. The Grid Giant Star Survey is a patchwork all-sky survey to find sub–solar metallicity K giants for the Grid, and to provide a unique database for studies of Galactic stellar populations. We describe here the survey characteristics and give examples of results to date.

The generation of high density 2D hole gases is crucial for further progress in the field of electronic and optoelectronic nitride devices. In this paper, we present results of C-V profiling measurements for N-face GaN/AlGaN heterostructures and systematic theoretical studies of Mg- doped GaN/AlGaN gated heterostructures and superlattices. Our calculations are based on a self- consistent solution of the multiband k.p Schrödinger and Poisson equation and reveal that the hole 2D sheet density is mainly determined by the polarization induced interface charges. For an Aluminium concentration of 30%, the induced hole density in the heterostructure can reach values up to 1.5×1013 cm−2. In the GaN/AlGaN superlattices, the hole sheet density increases with the superlattice period and saturates for a period of 40 nm at a value of 1.5×1013 cm−2.

The dynamic response of the electro-optic coefficients and the electronic polarizability for epitaxial thin films of KnbO3 and BaTiO3 are measured. For these two systems a logarithmic dependence of the electro-optic response and the polarization on time was observed after removal of an applied electric field. The dynamic response of the electro-optic effect and the polarization of the films are attributed to the same physical mechanism, which we associate with the dynamic response of ferroelectric nanodomains.