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The Multi-Bunch Mode (MBM) beam injection opera-tion of NSLS-II LINAC requires a beam-loading compen-sation for its rf field. That requirement has a significant impact on its radio frequency system (RF), in both the low-level rf control and the high-power klystron transmit-ters. Specifically, for the rf control, it requires the output vector modulation have enough bandwidth to be able to respond the transients by the MBM beam of 40~300 nS long. For the high-power rf transmitters, it requires the klystrons to operate in a near-linear region to be able to respond the linear rf control for the beam-loading compensation, which means a need of ~30% extra rf power overhead, compared to the single-bunch mode operations. The digital signal processing and the network configuration for the rf controllers are also the important areas in the implementation. The original system design was driven by the MBM beam operation requirements, and our system upgrade today continues to be guided by the same principles., Proceedings of the 5th North American Particle Accelerator Conference, NAPAC2022, Albuquerque, NM, USA

NSLS-II is a 3-GeV third-generation synchrotron light source at Brookhaven National Lab. The storage ring has been in routine operations for over six years and hosts 28 operating beamlines. The storage ring performance has continuously improved, including 500-mA with limited insertion devices closed, and routine 400-mA top off operation with 90% uniform filling pattern. Recently, we are exploring different operation modes, uniform multi single-bunch mode, and camshaft mode with a high single-bunch charge, to support timing-resolved user experiments. In this paper, we explore the potential for scientific experiments using the pulsed nature of the NSLS, summarize the user requirements on the beam parameters and the progress of accelerator studies., Proceedings of the 5th North American Particle Accelerator Conference, NAPAC2022, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Background Kyasanur Forest disease (KFD) is a viral zoonotic disease where patients present with febrile illness and haemorrhagic manifestations in the first phase. In a small fraction of patients, the fever may be biphasic. This study aimed to describe the neurological manifestations of patients with KFD in the first and second phases of the illness. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of 297 patients admitted with a molecular diagnosis of KFD from December 2018 to December 2020. The case records of these patients were reviewed for evidence of neurological involvement. Results A total of 34 (11.5%) patients in the first phase and 16 (36.4%) patients in the second phase had neurological involvement. Altered sensorium, seizures and focal infarcts were common in the first phase, while cerebellar signs and leptomeningeal enhancement were common in the second phase. Conclusions Neurological involvement is seen in both phases of KFD. While in the first phase it is a result of possible encephalitis/encephalopathy, the second phase involvement is possibly due to postinfectious cerebellitis or meningitis.

Many technologies had origin through the continuous and careful observation of unnoticed features of the species present in our nature. The self cleaning property of lotus leaves is a remarkable one among them, known in the name “lotus effect”. It has found a huge place in the civil industry. The exterior house paints are always subjected to wide fluctuation in atmospheric temperature conditions such as exposure to winters, hot summers, raining, etc. which reduces its durability and causes algal growth. Thus by effective incorporation of nanotechnology with this lotus effect, it has become able to provide self-cleaning ability along with air purification and antibacterial performance to construction materials like paint, tiles, etc. Nanomaterials like silicon, Titanium Dioxide etc. help to improve functionalities like water or stain resistance, UV protection, scratch resistance etc. When nano TiO2 was added to paint it degraded the polluting compounds at material surface by photocatalysis. Addition of it with cementitious materials displayed multiple photocatalytic functions and self cleaning properties. This review paper throws light into the repellent property of nano TiO2 when used in paint thereby enhancing aesthetic appearance of surfaces and effectively reducing the cost of routine maintenance. Rhodamine B removal ability of nano TiO2 is reviewed.

A banach space X is a normed vector space, which is complete with respect to the metric induced by the norm. Given a bounded linear operator T acting on a banach space X, T is said to attain its norm if there is a unit vector z in X, such that the norm of Tz equals the norm of T. The existence of an infinite dimensional banach space X, in which each bounded linear operator acting on X attains its norm, is still undetermined. This question was posed by M.I. Ostrovskii at St. John's University. In this paper we show that if an infinite dimensional banach space is considered over GF(2), then it is possible for every bounded linear operator to attain its norm., 4 pages

Over a few months in 2018, we observed occasional episodes of relatively quick accumulation of correction strengths for the fast correctors (used by the fast orbit feedback) near Cell 4 (C04) region at NSLS-II Storage Ring. We immediately started investigating the problem, but the cause remained unclear. However, after coming back from the Fall shutdown, we experienced even faster drifts, at a rate of as much as 10 urad per day in terms of orbit kick angle accumulation. The risk of damage on the ring vacuum chambers by the continuing orbit drift without explanation eventually forced us to take emergency study shifts and temporarily lock out the C04 IVU beamline. After extensive investigation by many subsystem experts in Accelerator Division, ruling out many suspicious sources one by one, we were finally able to conclude the cause to be the localized ground motion induced by large temperature jumps of the utility tunnel right underneath the C04 straight section. We report the details of this incident., Proceedings of the 10th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2019, Melbourne, Australia

Modern high performance circular accelerators require sophisticated corrections of nonlinear lattices. The beam betatron tune footprint may cross many resonances, reducing dynamic aperture and causing particle loss. However, if particles cross a resonance reasonably fast, the beam deterioration may be minimized. In this paper, we present the experiments with the beam passing through a half-integer resonance stopband via chromatic tune modulation by exciting synchrotron oscillations. This is the first time that beam dynamics have been kept under precise control while the beam crosses a half-integer resonance. Our results convincingly demonstrate that particles can cross the half-integer resonance without being lost if the passage is reasonably fast and the resonance stopband is sufficiently narrow., Proceedings of the 10th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2019, Melbourne, Australia

The NSLS-II synchrotron light-source at BNL uses three S-band, 45MW klystrons in its injector LINAC. At the core of the klystron station design is the novel solid-state switching modulators (or SSM). Compared to the conventional PFN klystron modulators, the main advantages of the SSM include the compact size requiring a smaller footprint in the LINAC, and a very flat top in the produced klystron HV pulses. The flatness of the HV pulses is very important for NSLS-II LINAC that runs multi-bunch beams to keep the beam energy dispersion within the tolerance. The principle of the SSM is fairly simple. It uses a large number of relatively low-voltage switched charging capacitor cells (or SU’s) in parallel. A specially designed, high step-up ratio, pulse transformer in the oil-tank with the same number of primary windings (as SU’s) combines the power from all the SU’s, and steps up to the required ~300kV klystron beam voltage. The operation experience at NSLS-II has proven the performance and reliability of the SSM’s. The BNL Model K2 SSM’s are currently being upgraded to Model K300 to run more powerful, and more cost-effective Canon’s E37302A klystrons., Proceedings of the North American Particle Accelerator Conference, NAPAC2019, Lansing, MI, USA

Cornell's SRF group has collaborated with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on one 500 MHz CESR type SRF "B-cell" cavity (BNL B-cell) for the National Synchrotron Light Source II. Cornell has been responsible for RF surface preparation, vertical testing, and short cavity string assembly. As a state-of-the-art surface preparation protocol, Cornell selected Nitrogen doping for the BNL B-cell. N-doping has been well demonstrated and established to push the cavity quality factor (Q0) higher in 1.3GHz SRF cavities at many laboratories. Cornell calculated that N-doping could also be beneficial on a 500MHz SRF cavity, with a potential to increase its Q0 by a factor of two compared with the traditional chemical polishing based surface preparation protocol. Here we report on the detailed surface preparation and vertical test result of the BNL B-cell., Proceedings of the 9th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2018, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is an attractive target for cancer therapy due to its ability to selectively induce apoptosis in cancer cells, without causing significant toxicity in normal tissues. We previously reported that galactoxyloglucan (PST001) possesses significant antitumor and immunomodulatory properties. However, the exact mechanism in mediating this anticancer effect is unknown. This study, for the first time, indicated that PST001 sensitizes non-small cell lung cancer (A549) and nasopharyngeal (KB) cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. In vitro studies suggested that PST001 induced apoptosis primarily via death receptors and predominantly activated caspases belonging to the extrinsic apoptotic cascade. Microarray profiling of PST001 treated A549 and KB cells showed the suppression of survivin (BIRC5) and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, as well as increased cytochrome C. TaqMan low density array analysis of A549 cells also confirmed that the induction of apoptosis by the polysaccharide occurred through the TRAIL-DR4/DR5 pathways. This was finally confirmed by in silico analysis, which revealed that PST001 binds to TRAIL-DR4/DR5 complexes more strongly than TNF and Fas ligand-receptor complexes. In summary, our results suggest the potential of PST001 to be developed as an anticancer agent that not only preserves innate biological activity of TRAIL, but also sensitizes cancer cells to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis.

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.The Anthropocene is proposed as a new interval of geological time in which human influence on Earth and its geological record dominates over natural processes. A major challenge in demarcating the Anthropocene is that the balance between human-influenced and natural processes varies over spatial and temporal scales owing to the inherent variability of both human activities (as associated with culture and modes of development) and natural drivers (e.g. tectonic activity and sea level variation). Against this backdrop, we consider how geomorphology might contribute towards the Anthropocene debate by focusing on human impact on aeolian, fluvial, cryospheric and coastal process domains, and how evidence of this impact is preserved in landforms and sedimentary records. We also consider the evidence for an explicitly anthropogenic geomorphology that includes artificial slopes and other human-created landforms. This provides the basis for discussing the theoretical and practical contributions that geomorphology can make to defining an Anthropocene stratigraphy. It is clear that the relevance of the Anthropocene concept varies considerably amongst different branches of geomorphology, depending on the history of human actions in different process domains. For example, evidence of human dominance is more widespread in fluvial and coastal records than in aeolian and cryospheric records, so geomorphologically the Anthropocene would inevitably comprise a highly diachronous lower boundary. Even to identify this lower boundary, research would need to focus on the disambiguation of human effects on geomorphological and sedimentological signatures. This would require robust data, derived from a combination of modelling and new empirical work rather than an arbitrary 'war of possible boundaries' associated with convenient, but disputed, 'golden' spikes. Rather than being drawn into stratigraphical debates, the primary concern of geomorphology should be with the investigation of processes and landform development, so providing the underpinning science for the study of this time of critical geological transition.

Antenatal corticosteroid (ANCS) treatment hastens fetal lung maturity and improves survival of premature infants, but the long-term effects of ANCS are not well-described. Animal models suggest ANCS increases the risk of cardiovascular disease through programmed changes in the renin-angiotensin (Ang)-aldosterone system (RAAS). We hypothesized that ANCS exposure alters the RAAS in adolescents born prematurely.

It had become a standard practice to constrain particle's tune footprint while designing the storage ring lattice so that the tunes fit between harmful resonances that limit ring dynamic aperture (DA). However, in recent ultra-bright light source design, the nonlinearities of storage ring lattices are much enhanced as compared with the 3rd generation light source one. It is becoming more and more difficult to keep the off-momentum tune footprint confined and even more, the solution cannot be found to confine off-energy tune footprint in certain cases. The questions have been asked whether crossing of a resonance stopband from off-momentum particle will necessarily lead to particle loss. In NSLS-II, we modified the lattice working point to mimic machine tune footprint crossing half integer with beam synchrotron oscillation excitation and demonstrated that beam can cross a resonance without loss with control of stopband width and high order chromaticity., Proceedings of the North American Particle Accelerator Conf., NAPAC2016, Chicago, IL, USA

We discuss measurements, performed in the NSLS-II storage ring, of the synchronous phase shift as a function of single bunch current from beam loading parameters. The synchronous phase is calculated from the forward and reflected power measured in the RF cavities. The comparison with direct synchronous phase measurements shows good agreement., Proceedings of the 8th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2017, Copenhagen, Denmark

In modern generation light sources, it is desired to have SR performance at high beam current, low horizontal emittance with small coupling, resulting in intense Touschek scattering, which is the dominant limitation of beam lifetime. Touschek scattering strongly depends on momentum aperture. Understanding momentum aperture is extremely important. NSLS II storage ring RF system has the digital ramp control function, enabling rapid change of the cavity phase and amplitude. This makes the possibility to ping the beam in longitudinal phase space and directly measure the longitudinal acceptance, in contrast with traditional indirect way to understand it from other aspect of parameters. In this paper, we present the tool, longitudinal pinger, its application to characterize NSLS II longitudinal acceptance and localize the momentum aperture limit with SR BPMs., Proceedings of the 8th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2017, Copenhagen, Denmark

The NSLS-II RF system uses an in-house FPGA based low level RF (LLRF) solution called the Cavity Field Controller (CFC). The CFC directs the amplitude and phase for the high power RF and directly influences beam acceleration and stability. In this paper we discuss a logically embedded Network Analyzer (NA) in situ with the digital feedback loop controlled via a MATLAB or EPICS interface. The embedded NA was used to evaluate the RF feedback stability and influence of the feedback parameters on the beam. We will also discuss diagnostics tools to investigate longitudinal beam dynamics and other functionality embedded into the FPGA fabric. Future development of the CFC implementation and hardware upgrades will also be discussed., Proceedings of the 11st Int. Workshop on Personal Computers and Particle Accelerator Controls, PCaPAC2016, Campinas, Brazil

Background: Survivors of disfiguring burn injury often become social handicaps. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to understand their perception of body image, their coping skills, their appraisals about social support and self-monitoring behaviour in social situations and explore the factors that can promote better psychological adjustment.Methods: Using a single group cohort design, a sample of 18 individuals with burn injury, were recruited through purposive sampling. Personal data sheet, self-monitoring scale (SMS) and satisfaction with appearance scale (SWAP) were administered when the patients were admitted post-injury. Social support appraisal scale (SSA), coping with burns questionnaire along with SMS and SWAP were administered at one-month post-discharge.Results: The findings indicated that gender and education played a significant role in body image, coping, social support appraisal and self-monitoring behaviours. Further, higher scores on coping strategies were associated with better body satisfaction.Conclusions: The findings indicate the need to look into the variables of coping, body image, social support, self-monitoring behaviours of burns patients and the need to develop interventions for improving their quality of life. A mixed-method study design for better understanding of the psychosocial factors impacting adjustment post-burn injury would be beneficial. Although a larger cohort needs to be studied for understanding the impact of these factors, one may already notice definite indicators that are risk factors that may lead to poorer psycho-social wellbeing of burn victims and potential areas where interventions may be effective.

Author has retained copyright of article. Article was deposited after permission was granted by CPLEA 06/28/2016

Precise risk stratification and tailored therapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) can lead to enhanced survival rates among children. Translocations and mutations along with multidrug resistance markers are important factors that determine therapeutic efficacy. Gene mutation profiling of patients at the time of diagnosis can offer accurate clinical decision-making. Multiplex PCR was used to screen for various translocations, mutations, and P-glycoprotein (P-gp) status in pediatric ALL samples. The roles of P-gp were analyzed at the transcriptional and translational levels by using real-time PCR and immunoblotting, respectively. ALL specific cell line Jurkat was used to validate the functional role of P-gp in imparting drug resistance by siRNA knockdown studies. Co-occurrence of translocations and mutations contributes to cellular drug resistance. Presence of any translocation in addition to FLT3/ITD hints for overactive P-gp. Co-occurrence of E2A/PBX and TEL/AML has also been positively correlated with P-gp status. Multiplex PCR provides a rapid and cost effective technique for profiling translocations, mutations, and multidrug resistance status that determines what therapy patients could be administered. Mutation profiling in patients for analyzing genetic lesions along with drug resistance profiling will help improve risk stratification and personalized medicine, thereby increasing the treatment success rates among pediatric patients with leukemia.

NSLS II storage ring RF system has the digital ramp control function, enabling rapid change of the cavity phase and amplitude. This, together with largely overcoupled RF cavity and transmitter geometry, enables the possibility to "ping" the beam in longitudinal phase space. Similar to the pinger commonly used for transverse beam dynamic studies, the RF jump presents with a powerful tool for investigation of the machine longitudinal beam dynamics. During our beam studies, RF phase was jumped within a short interval of time (less than synchrotron period). Using turn-by-turn data from BPMs we measured the machine energy acceptance with and without damping wigglers. This paper presents the beam study results., Proceedings of the 7th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2016, Busan, Korea

Lung cancer accounts for the majority of cancer-related deaths worldwide of which non-small-cell lung carcinoma alone takes a toll of around 85%. Platinum-based therapy is the stronghold for lung cancer at present. The discovery of various molecular alterations that underlie lung cancer has contributed to the development of specifically targeted therapies employing specific mutation inhibitors. Targeted chemotherapy based on molecular profiling has shown great promise in lung cancer treatment. Various molecular markers with predictive and prognostic significance in lung cancer have evolved as a result of advanced research. Testing of EGFR and Kras mutations is now a common practice among community oncologists, and more recently, ALK rearrangements have been added to this group. This paper discusses various predictive and prognostic markers that are being investigated and have shown significant relevance which can be exploited for targeted treatment in lung cancer.

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is a 3 GeV X-ray user facility commissioned in 2014. The storage ring RF system, essential for replenishing energy loss per turn of the electrons, consists of digital low level RF controllers, 310 kW CW klystron transmitters, CESR-B type superconducting cavities, as well as a supporting cryogenic system. Here we will report on RF commissioning and early operation experience of the system for beam current up to 200 mA., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a third generation 3GeV, 500mA synchrotron light source. We discuss the booster synchrotron RF system responsible for providing power to accelerate an electron beam from 200MeV to 3GeV. The RF system design and construction are complete and is currently in the operational phase of the NSLS-II project. Preliminary operational data is also discussed., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

The National Synchrotron Light Source II is a 3 GeV X-ray user facility commissioned in 2014. A new helium refrigerator system has been installed and commissioned to support the superconducting RF cavities in the storage ring. Special care was taken to provide very stable helium and LN2 pressures and flow rates to minimize microphonics and thermal effects at the cavities. Details of the system design along with commissioning and early operations data will be presented., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

The injector for the National Synchrotron Light Source II storage ring consists of a 3 GeV booster synchrotron and a 200 MeV S-band linac. The linac was designed to produce either a single bunch with a charge of 0.5 nC of electrons or a train of bunches up to 300 ns long containing a total charge of 15 nC. The booster was designed to accelerate up to 15 nC each cycle. Linac commissioning was completed in April 2012. Booster commissioning was started in November 2013 and completed in March 2014. All of the significant design goals were satisfied including beam emittance, energy spread, and transport efficiency. While the maximum booster charge accelerated was only 10 nC this has proven to be more than sufficient for storage ring commissioning. The injector has operated reliably during storage ring operation since then. Results will be presented showing measurements of injector operating parameters achieved during commissioning and initial operation. Operating experience and reliability during the first year of NSLS-II operation will be discussed., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

The National Synchrotron Light Source II accelerator consists of the Storage Ring, the Booster Ring, and Linac along with their associated cavities. NSLS II is committed to the use of digital RF controllers for controlling these cavities. Given the number, types and variety of functions of these cavities, we sought to limit the logic development effort by reuse of parameterized code on one hardware platform. Currently we have fielded six controllers in the NSLS II system. There are two controllers each in both the Storage ring and Booster. The first controller in each is used to control the cavity field and the second controller used for diagnostics. In the Linac a controller is provided which modulates the eGUN grid to generate the bunches. Lastly, in the Master Oscillator Distribution System a controller is used to make phase corrections to the outgoing master oscillator clock signal to account for thermal phase drifts along the distribution path., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

The National Synchrotron Light Source II is a 3 GeV X-ray user facility commissioned in 2014. The NSLS-II RF system consists of the master oscillator, digital low level RF controllers, linac, booster and storage ring RF sub-systems, as well as a supporting cryogenic system. Here we will report on RF commissioning and early operation experience of the system., Proceedings of the 6th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2015, Richmond, VA, USA

What is the preparedness of the Indian insurance industry to deal with the growing frequency and severity of natural disasters? We examine this question and argue that the continuation of present p...

Chromosome 14 is one of five acrocentric chromosomes in the human genome. These chromosomes are characterized by a heterochromatic short arm that contains essentially ribosomal RNA genes, and a euchromatic long arm in which most, if not all, of the protein-coding genes are located. The finished sequence of human chromosome 14 comprises 87,410,661 base pairs, representing 100% of its euchromatic portion, in a single continuous segment covering the entire long arm with no gaps. Two loci of crucial importance for the immune system, as well as more than 60 disease genes, have been localized so far on chromosome 14. We identified 1,050 genes and gene fragments, and 393 pseudogenes. On the basis of comparisons with other vertebrate genomes, we estimate that more than 96% of the chromosome 14 genes have been annotated. From an analysis of the CpG island occurrences, we estimate that 70% of these annotated genes are complete at their 5' end.

Imatinib mesylate, a BCR/ABL fusion protein inhibitor, is the first-line treatment against chronic myelogenous leukemia. In spite of its advantageous viewpoints, imatinib still has genuine impediments like undesirable side effects and tumor resistance during chemotherapy. Nanoparticles with sustainable release profile will help in targeted delivery of anticancer drugs while minimizing deleterious side effects and drug resistance. The use of biopolymers like galactoxyloglucan (PST001) for the fabrication of imatinib mesylate nanoparticles could impart its use in overcoming multidrug resistance in chronic myelogenous leukemia patients with minimal side effects. This study involved in the synthesis of PST-Imatinib nanoconjugates with appreciable drug payload and excellent cytotoxicity against drug-resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line (K562) in comparison with free drug. The use of bioinformatics tool revealed better binding affinity for the drug–polysaccharide complex than the drug alone with three proteins: 3QX3 (Topoisomerase), 1M17 (EGFR tyrosine kinase domain), and 3QRJ (ABL1 kinase domain). Assessment of the biochemical, hematological, and histopathological parameters in mice upheld the security and adequacy of the nanoconjugate compared to free drug. Although perspective investigations are warranted, in a condition like drug resistance in leukemia, this nanoconjugate would display a productive approach in cancer therapeutics.

The NSLS-II storage ring has been commissioned during Phase 1 with 500 MHz 7-cell PETRA-III RF cavity. In this paper we present our first beam-measured data on instabilities and collective effects with a normal conducting RF system., Proceedings of the 5th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2014, Dresden, Germany

We discuss coupled-bunch instabilities thresholds for the NSLS-II Storage Ring. In particular, we analyze thresholds from the High Order Modes (HOMs) of the PETRA-III 7-cell cavity. Beam dynamics simulations with the code OASIS, using the measured HOMs, will be compared with machine studies., Proceedings of the 5th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf., IPAC2014, Dresden, Germany

HST WFPC2 images in B (F450W) and I (F814W) have been obtained for three starburst (SB) and two post-starburst (PSB) galaxies in the Coma cluster, and for three such galaxies in the cluster DC2048-52. V (F555W) and I images for an additional PSB galaxy in Coma have been extracted from the archive. Seven of these galaxies were previously classified as E/S0 on the basis of ground-based images, one as Sa, and the other as an irregular. The HST images reveal these SB/PSB galaxies to be heterogeneous in morphology. Nevertheless a common theme is that many of them, especially the SB galaxies, tend to have centralized spiral structure that appears simply as a bright ``bulge''on ground-based images. In addition, while some PSB galaxies exhibit distinct spiral structure, on the whole they have smoother morphologies than the SB galaxies. The morphologies and luminosity profiles are generally consistent with substantial starbursts in the form of centralized spiral structure (the SB galaxies) which fade into smoother morphologies (the PSB galaxies), with lingering spectroscopic evidence for past central starbursts. An important point is that the PSB galaxies retain disks, i.e, they have not evolved into spheroidal systems., 32 pages, 10 figures including 3 jpg images. To appear in the January 1999 Astronomical Journal

Powerline Communication is found to be one of the cheapest and easiest communication techniques and electronic companies are looking forward for its applications in home automation, automatic energy reading, broadband etc. In this paper, we propose a new architecture for a PLC modem, which is cost efficient and easy to implement. This paper discusses low voltage narrowband powerline communication for PLC Modem. The proposed PLC modem design transmit and receive data for application such as controlling home equipments, meter reading etc. Proposed PLC modem uses CSMA/CA for error detection and collision.

The LivingLight house, an entrant in the 2011 Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, incorporates an innovative dynamic double façade system. This paper details key features of the façade system including aesthetic integration of technical components, natural and electric illumination, design of shading devices, and use of the façade cavity to harness solar-thermal energy.

The NSLS-II injection system consists of a 200 MeV linac and a 3 GeV booster synchrotron and associated transport lines. The transport lines need to transport the beam from the linac to the booster and from the booster to the storage ring in a way that provide high injection efficiency. In this paper we discuss progress on specifying and prototyping the NSLS-II transfer lines including diagnostics, magnet specifications, and safety systems. Commissioning plans are also discussed., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

We present stellar population age and metallicity trends for a sample of 59 S0 galaxies based on optical SDSS and NIR J & H photometry. When combined with optical g and r passband imaging data from the SDSS archive and stellar population models, we obtain radial age and metallicity trends out to at least 5 effective radii for most of the galaxies in our sample. The sample covers a range in stellar mass and light concentration. We find an average central light-weighted age of ~ 4 Gyr and central metallicity [Z/H] ~ 0.2 dex. Almost all galaxies show a negative metallicity gradient from the center out, with an average value of Delta[Z/H]/Delta(log(r/Re)) = -0.6. An age increase, decrease, and minimal change with radius is observed for 58%, 19%, and 23%, respectively, for a mean age gradient of Delta(age)/Delta(log(r/Re)) = 2.3 Gyr dex^{-1}. For 14 out of 59 galaxies, the light-weighted age of the outer region is greater than 10 Gyr. We find that galaxies with both lower mass and lower concentration have younger light-weighted ages and lower light-weighted metallicities. This mass-metallicity relation extends into the outer regions of our S0 galaxies. Our results are consistent with the formation of S0 galaxies through the transformation of spiral galaxy disks. Determining the structural component that makes up the outer region of galaxies with old outksirts is a necessary step to understand the formation history of S0 galaxies., accepted to MNRAS

The National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is a state of the art 3 GeV third generation light source currently under construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The NSLS-II injection system consists of a 200 MeV linac and a 3 GeV booster synchrotron. The injection system needs to deliver 7.5 nC in 80 - 150 bunches to the storage ring every minute to achieve current stability goals in the storage ring. This is a very stringent requirement that has not been demonstrated at an operating light source, though it should be achievable. To alleviate the charge requirement on the linac, we have designed a scheme to stack two bunch trains in the booster. In this paper we discuss this stacking scheme. The performance of the stacking scheme is studied in detail at injection and through a full booster ramp. We show the the ultimate performance of the stacking scheme is similar to a single bunch train in the booster if the linac emittance meets the requirements. Increasing the emittance of the linac beam degrades the performance, but still allows an overall increase of train charge vs. one bunch train., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

Booster extraction presents a number of problems that include strengths and waveforms of the pulsed magnets and design of the vacuum chamber. Instabilities in the booster extraction may compromise the extracted beam quality deteriorating value of high-performance injector design. Here we discuss requirements and tolerances for the extraction system components and methods of increasing its performance., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

The booster synchrotron for NSLS-II accepts beam with 200 MeV from a linac and raises its energy up to 3 GeV. In order to raise beam energy up to 3 GeV, a 7-cell PETRA cavity is installed. Beam instabilities related with the cavity are discussed. In particular, in order to avoid coupled-bunch instability, we consider that cooling water temperature for the cavity should be changed to shift frequencies of higher order modes (HOM) to avoid beam revolution lines. To obtain the relation between the temperature dependence of amount of frequency shift in each HOM and cavity body temperature, we carried out the measurement by changing cavity body temperature. From the measurement data, we calculate the required temperature variation. We summarize the results and describe the system design., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

The future effects of climate change will potentially have massive impacts upon society, infrastructure, energy and food supplies. Considerable research is focused upon the development of sophisticated predictive climate models that forecast the implications and effects of climate change over the next few millennia. However, two obvious questions arise. Firstly, how can we test whether these models work? Secondly, are we being short-sighted and not looking far enough into the future? Both of these questions can be examined by looking at analogues from the geological record.

We discuss status and plans of development of the NSLS-II injector. The injector consists of 200 MeV linac, 3-GeV booster, transport lines and injection straight section. The system design is now nearly completed and the injector development is in the procurement phase. The injector commissioning is planned to take place in 2012., Proceedings of the 1st International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC2010, Kyoto, Japan

In our study of M31's globular cluster system with MMT/Hectospec, we have obtained high-quality spectra of 85 clusters with ages less than 1 Gyr. With the exception of Hubble V, the young cluster in NGC 205, we find that these young clusters have kinematics and spatial distribution consistent with membership in M31's young disk. Preliminary estimates of the cluster masses and structural parameters, using spectroscopically derived ages and HST imaging, confirms earlier suggestions that M31 has clusters similar to the LMC's young populous clusters., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, contributed talk at "Galaxies in the Local Volume" conference in Sydney, July 2007

To explore the production of UV-bright stars in old, metal-rich populations like those in elliptical galaxies, we have obtained Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph far- and near-UV photometry of globular clusters (GCs) in four fields in the giant elliptical (gE) galaxy M87. To a limit of mFUV ~ 25 we detect a total of 66 GCs in common with the deep HST optical-band study of Kundu et al. Despite strong overlap in V- and I-band properties, the M87 GCs have UV-optical properties that are distinct from clusters in the Milky Way and in M31. M87 clusters, especially metal-poor ones, produce larger hot horizontal-branch populations than do Milky Way analogs. In color plots including the near-UV band, the M87 clusters appear to represent an extension of the Milky Way sequence. Cluster mass is probably not a factor in these distinctions. The most metal-rich M87 GCs in our sample are near solar metallicity and overlap the local E galaxy sample in estimated Mg2 line indices. Nonetheless, the clusters produce much more UV light at a given Mg2, being up to 1 mag bluer than any gE galaxy in (FUV - V) color. The M87 GCs do not appear to represent a transition between Milky Way-type clusters and E galaxies. The differences are in the correct sense if the clusters are significantly older than the E galaxies. Comparisons with Galactic open clusters indicate that the hot stars lie on the extreme horizontal branch, rather than being blue stragglers, and that the extreme horizontal branch becomes well populated for ages 5 Gyr. Existing model grids for clusters do not match the observations well, due to poorly understood giant branch mass loss or perhaps high helium abundances. We find that 41 of our UV detections have no optical-band counterparts. Most appear to be UV-bright background galaxies seen through M87. Eleven near-UV variable sources detected at only one epoch in the central field are probably classical novae. Two recurrent variable sources have no obvious explanation but could be related to activity in the relativistic jet.

A major uncertainty in the spectroscopic dating of extragalactic globular clusters concerns the degenerate effect that age and horizontal branch morphology have on the strength of Balmer lines. In this Letter we show that the ratio between the equivalent widths of Hdelta and Hbeta is far more sensitive to horizontal branch morphology than to age, thus making it possible to break the degeneracy. We show that it is possible to distinguish intermediate-age globular clusters from those whose Balmer lines are strengthened by the presence of blue horizontal branch stars, purely on the basis of the clusters' integrated spectra. The degeneracy between age and horizontal branch morphology can be lifted with Hbeta and Hdelta line strengths from spectra with S/N >= 30 per Angstrom, which is typical of current studies of integrated spectroscopy of extragalactic globular clusters.