scholarly journals Comprehensive Census and Complete Characterization of Nearby Debris Disk Stars

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (S314) ◽  
pp. 179-182
Author(s):  
Tara H. Cotten ◽  
Inseok Song

AbstractDebris disks are intimately linked to planetary system evolution since the rocky material surrounding the host stars is believed to be due to secondary generation from the collisions of planetesimals. With the conclusion and lack of future large scale infrared excess survey missions, it is time to summarize the history of using excess emission in the infrared as a tracer of debris and exploit all available data as well as provide a comprehensive study of the parameters of these important objects. We have compiled a catalog of infrared excess stars from peer-reviewed articles and performed an extensive search for new debris disks by cross-correlating the Tycho-2 and AllWISE catalogs. This study will conclude following the thorough examination of each debris disk star's parameters obtained through high-resolution spectroscopy at various facilities which is currently ongoing. We will maintain a webpage (www.debrisdisks.org) devoted to these infrared excess sources and provide various resources related to our catalog creation, SED fitting, and data reduction.

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1726) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan L. Porter ◽  
Joseph R. Blasic ◽  
Michael J. Bok ◽  
Evan G. Cameron ◽  
Thomas Pringle ◽  
...  

Opsin proteins are essential molecules in mediating the ability of animals to detect and use light for diverse biological functions. Therefore, understanding the evolutionary history of opsins is key to understanding the evolution of light detection and photoreception in animals. As genomic data have appeared and rapidly expanded in quantity, it has become possible to analyse opsins that functionally and histologically are less well characterized, and thus to examine opsin evolution strictly from a genetic perspective. We have incorporated these new data into a large-scale, genome-based analysis of opsin evolution. We use an extensive phylogeny of currently known opsin sequence diversity as a foundation for examining the evolutionary distributions of key functional features within the opsin clade. This new analysis illustrates the lability of opsin protein-expression patterns, site-specific functionality (i.e. counterion position) and G-protein binding interactions. Further, it demonstrates the limitations of current model organisms, and highlights the need for further characterization of many of the opsin sequence groups with unknown function.


Plant Disease ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
pp. 1534-1542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anmin Wan ◽  
Xianming Chen

Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici causes stripe rust (yellow rust) of wheat and is highly variable in virulence toward wheat with race-specific resistance. During 2010, wheat stripe rust was the most widespread in the recorded history of the United States, resulting in large-scale application of fungicides and substantial yield loss. A new differential set with 18 yellow rust (Yr) single-gene lines was established and used to differentiate races of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici, which were named as race PSTv in distinction from the PST races identified in the past. An octal system was used to describe the virulence and avirulence patterns of the PSTv races. From 348 viable P. striiformis f. sp. tritici isolates recovered from a total of 381 wheat and grass stripe rust samples collected in 24 states, 41 races, named PSTv-1 to PSTv-41, were identified using the new set of 18 Yr single-gene differentials, and their equivalent PST race names were determined on the previous set of 20 wheat cultivar differentials. The frequencies and distributions of the races and their virulences were determined. The five most predominant races were PSTv-37 (34.5%), PSTv-11 (17.5%), PSTv-14 (7.2%), PSTv-36 (5.2%), and PSTv-34 (4.9%). PSTv-37 was distributed throughout the country while PSTv-11 and PSTv-14 were almost restricted to states west of the Rocky Mountains. The races had virulence to 0 to 13 of the 18 Yr genes. Frequencies of virulences toward resistance genes Yr6, Yr7, Yr8, Yr9, Yr17, Yr27, Yr43, Yr44, YrTr1, and YrExp2 were high (67.0 to 93.7%); those to Yr1 (32.8%) and YrTye (31.3%) were moderate; and those to Yr10, Yr24, Yr32, and YrSP were low (3.4 to 5.7%). All of the isolates were avirulent to Yr5 and Yr15.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung Hoon Lee ◽  
Luke Campagnola ◽  
Stephanie C. Seeman ◽  
Tim Jarsky ◽  
Stefan Mihalas

AbstractThe strengths of synaptic connections dynamically change depending on the history of synaptic events, which is referred to as short-term plasticity (STP). While STP’s underlying mechanisms are well researched, its exact functions remain poorly understood. This is in part due to the diverse patterns of STP experimentally reported. Recently, the Allen Institute for Brain Science has launched the synaptic physiology pipeline to characterize the diverse properties of synapses. Since this pipeline generates a large-scale survey of synapses in mouse primary visual cortex using highly standardized experimental protocols, it provides a unique opportunity to study diverse patterns of STP. Here, we develop an end-to-end workflow that can characterize STP from the Allen Institute for Brain Science pipeline data and conduct network simulations to infer STP’s functions. Employing this workflow, we find 1) that diverse patterns of STP exist even in the same synapse classes and 2) that postsynaptic neurons’ responses have distinct characteristics depending on STP.


Author(s):  
Lauren Copeland ◽  
Giovanni Luca Ciampaglia ◽  
Li Zhao

Knowledge discovery techniques have a long history of application to fields of practice such as marketing and business intelligence. Fashion and other manufacturing compartments have comparably enjoyed little attention from computer scientists. With the increasing availability of multimedia data from the Web and social media, our understanding of the fashion apparel industry could be significantly enhanced through the use of knowledge discovery methods and of large scale datasets obtained from places such as Twitter and Instagram. Here, we are interested in one of the issues at the center of the contemporary structure and dynamics of the fashion industry: the practice of knockoffs. We combine Web scraping and network science techniques to give a preliminary characterization of how brands knock designs off each other. Such a study could be one of the first examples of an emergent field, which we refer to and define as “fashion informatics.”


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S299) ◽  
pp. 334-335
Author(s):  
R. J. De Rosa ◽  
B. Smith ◽  
J. Bulger ◽  
J. Patience ◽  
C. Marois ◽  
...  

AbstractWe present the preliminary findings of an investigation of the multiplicity of debris disk stars identified within our Volume-limited A-star (VAST) multiplicity survey. Previous studies have produced conflicting results regarding the multiplicity fraction of debris disk-hosting stars compared with non-excess stars. By combining our large-scale volume-limited AO survey of A-type stars with the all-sky WISE catalogue, we have investigated the frequency of binary companions to a large sample of A-type stars with and without measured 22μm excess. The results of this study will allow for a greater understanding of the interaction between a companion star and a circumstellar debris disk, informing future study into the formation and stability of planetary-mass companions within binary systems.


Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsha C. Wibowo ◽  
Zhen Yang ◽  
Maxime Borry ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Kun D. Huang ◽  
...  

AbstractLoss of gut microbial diversity1–6 in industrial populations is associated with chronic diseases7, underscoring the importance of studying our ancestral gut microbiome. However, relatively little is known about the composition of pre-industrial gut microbiomes. Here we performed a large-scale de novo assembly of microbial genomes from palaeofaeces. From eight authenticated human palaeofaeces samples (1,000–2,000 years old) with well-preserved DNA from southwestern USA and Mexico, we reconstructed 498 medium- and high-quality microbial genomes. Among the 181 genomes with the strongest evidence of being ancient and of human gut origin, 39% represent previously undescribed species-level genome bins. Tip dating suggests an approximate diversification timeline for the key human symbiont Methanobrevibacter smithii. In comparison to 789 present-day human gut microbiome samples from eight countries, the palaeofaeces samples are more similar to non-industrialized than industrialized human gut microbiomes. Functional profiling of the palaeofaeces samples reveals a markedly lower abundance of antibiotic-resistance and mucin-degrading genes, as well as enrichment of mobile genetic elements relative to industrial gut microbiomes. This study facilitates the discovery and characterization of previously undescribed gut microorganisms from ancient microbiomes and the investigation of the evolutionary history of the human gut microbiota through genome reconstruction from palaeofaeces.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruud J. Dirksen ◽  
Greg E. Bodeker ◽  
Peter W. Thorne ◽  
Andrea Merlone ◽  
Tony Reale ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper describes the GRUAN-wide approach to manage the transition from the Vaisala RS92 to the Vaisala RS41 as the operational radiosonde. The goal of the GCOS Reference Upper-Air Network (GRUAN) is to provide long-term high-quality reference observations of upper air Essential Climate Variables (ECVs) such as temperature and water vapor. With GRUAN data being used for climate monitoring, it is vital that the change of measurement system does not introduce inhomogeneities in to the data record. The majority of the 27 GRUAN sites were launching the RS92 as their operational radiosonde, and following the end of production of the RS92 in the last quarter of 2017, most of these sites have now switched to the RS41. Such a large-scale change in instrumentation is unprecedented in the history of GRUAN and poses a challenge for the network. Several measurement programmes have been initiated to characterize differences in biases, uncertainties and noise between the two radiosonde types. These include laboratory characterization of measurement errors, extensive twin sounding studies with RS92 and RS41 on the same balloon, and comparison with ancillary data. This integrated approach is commensurate with the GRUAN principles of traceability and deliberate redundancy. A two-year period of regular twin soundings is recommended, and for sites that are not able to implement this burden sharing is employed, such that measurements at a certain site are considered representative of other sites with similar climatological characteristics. All data relevant to the RS92-RS41 transition are archived in a database that will be accessible to the scientific community for external scrutiny. Furthermore, the knowledge and experience gained about GRUAN's RS92-RS41 transition will be extensively documented to ensure traceability of the process. This documentation will benefit other networks in managing changes in their operational radiosonde systems. Preliminary analysis of the laboratory experiments indicates that the manufacturer's calibration of the RS41's temperature and humidity sensors is more accurate than for the RS92; with uncertainties of


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S299) ◽  
pp. 326-327
Author(s):  
Nicholas P. Ballering ◽  
George H. Rieke ◽  
Kate Y. L. Su ◽  
Edward Montiel

AbstractCold debris disks have the potential to answer many outstanding questions in wide-orbit planet formation and evolution. We characterized the infrared excess SEDs of 174 cold debris disks with Spitzer IRS and MIPS. We found a trend between the temperature of the disks and the stellar type of the stars they orbit. This argues against the importance of strictly temperature-dependent processes (e.g. ice lines) in setting the dimensions of cold debris disks. We also found no evidence that delayed stirring causes the trend. The trend may result from outward planet migration that traces the extent of the primordial protoplanetary disk, or from planet formation that halts at an orbital radius limited by the efficiency of core accretion. For the full details of this work, see Ballering et al. (2013).


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (S8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Castrense Savojardo ◽  
Pier Luigi Martelli ◽  
Giacomo Tartari ◽  
Rita Casadio

Abstract Background The prediction of protein subcellular localization is a key step of the big effort towards protein functional annotation. Many computational methods exist to identify high-level protein subcellular compartments such as nucleus, cytoplasm or organelles. However, many organelles, like mitochondria, have their own internal compartmentalization. Knowing the precise location of a protein inside mitochondria is crucial for its accurate functional characterization. We recently developed DeepMito, a new method based on a 1-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network (1D-CNN) architecture outperforming other similar approaches available in literature. Results Here, we explore the adoption of DeepMito for the large-scale annotation of four sub-mitochondrial localizations on mitochondrial proteomes of five different species, including human, mouse, fly, yeast and Arabidopsis thaliana. A significant fraction of the proteins from these organisms lacked experimental information about sub-mitochondrial localization. We adopted DeepMito to fill the gap, providing complete characterization of protein localization at sub-mitochondrial level for each protein of the five proteomes. Moreover, we identified novel mitochondrial proteins fishing on the set of proteins lacking any subcellular localization annotation using available state-of-the-art subcellular localization predictors. We finally performed additional functional characterization of proteins predicted by DeepMito as localized into the four different sub-mitochondrial compartments using both available experimental and predicted GO terms. All data generated in this study were collected into a database called DeepMitoDB (available at http://busca.biocomp.unibo.it/deepmitodb), providing complete functional characterization of 4307 mitochondrial proteins from the five species. Conclusions DeepMitoDB offers a comprehensive view of mitochondrial proteins, including experimental and predicted fine-grain sub-cellular localization and annotated and predicted functional annotations. The database complements other similar resources providing characterization of new proteins. Furthermore, it is also unique in including localization information at the sub-mitochondrial level. For this reason, we believe that DeepMitoDB can be a valuable resource for mitochondrial research.


Author(s):  
Marco Pappaccogli ◽  
Silvia Di Monaco ◽  
Ewa Warchoł-Celińska ◽  
Aurélien Lorthioir ◽  
Laurence Amar ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims Since December 2015, the European/International Fibromuscular Dysplasia (FMD) Registry enrolled 1022 patients from 22 countries. We present their characteristics according to disease subtype, age and gender, as well as predictors of widespread disease, aneurysms and dissections. Methods and results All patients diagnosed with FMD (string-of-beads or focal stenosis in at least one vascular bed) based on computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance angiography, and/or catheter-based angiography were eligible. Patients were predominantly women (82%) and Caucasians (88%). Age at diagnosis was 46 ± 16 years (12% ≥65 years old), 86% were hypertensive, 72% had multifocal, and 57% multivessel FMD. Compared to patients with multifocal FMD, patients with focal FMD were younger, more often men, had less often multivessel FMD but more revascularizations. Compared to women with FMD, men were younger, had more often focal FMD and arterial dissections. Compared to younger patients with FMD, patients ≥65 years old had more often multifocal FMD, lower estimated glomerular filtration rate and more atherosclerotic lesions. Independent predictors of multivessel FMD were age at FMD diagnosis, stroke, multifocal subtype, presence of aneurysm or dissection, and family history of FMD. Predictors of aneurysms were multivessel and multifocal FMD. Predictors of dissections were age at FMD diagnosis, male gender, stroke, and multivessel FMD. Conclusions The European/International FMD Registry allowed large-scale characterization of distinct profiles of patients with FMD and, more importantly, identification of a unique set of independent predictors of widespread disease, aneurysms and dissections, paving the way for targeted screening, management, and follow-up of FMD.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document