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At least 199 records · Page 11

Default taxonomy: Ernst Mayr's view of the microbial world

This perspective is a response to a taxonomic proposal by E. Mayr ["Two empires or three?" (1998) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95, 9720-9723]. Mayr has suggested that the now accepted classification of life into three primary domains, Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya-originally proposed by myself and others--be abandoned in favor of the earlier Prokaryote-Eukaryote classification. Although the matter appears a taxonomic quibble, it is not that simple. At issue here are differing views as to the nature of biological classification, which are underlain by differing views as to what biology is and will be--matters of concern to all biologists.

Non-NASA Center↗

The ISO View of Palomar-Green Quasars

Mining the ISO data archive we provide the complete ISO view of PG quasars containing 64 infrared spectral energy distributions between 5 and 200 mu m. About half of the sample was supplemented by MAMBO and SCUBA (sub-)millimeter data. Since the PG quasars were selected optically, the high infrared detection rate of more than 80% suggests that every quasar possesses luminous to hyper-luminous dust emission with dust masses comparable to Seyferts and ultra-luminous IR galaxies (ULIRGs). The gas to-dust mass ratio (of those sources where CO measurements are available in the literature) is consistent with the galactic value providing further evidence for the thermal nature of the IR emission of radio quiet quasars. The SEDs represent templates of unprecedented detail and sensitivity. We suggest that the diversity of the SEDs reflects largely the evolution of the dust distribution, and we propose a classification of the SED shapes as well as an evolutionary scheme in which this variety can be understood. During the evolution the surrounding dust redistributes, settling more and more into a torus/disk like configuration, while the SEDs show an initial FIR bump, then an increasing MIR emission and a steeper near- to mid-infrared slope, both of which finally also decrease. Regarding cosmic evolution, our hyper-luminous quasars in the "local" universe at z=l do not show the hyper-luminous (LFIR >? 10(exp 13) L(sub sun)) starburst activity inferred for z=4 quasars detected in several (sub-)millimeter surveys. In view of several caveats this difference should be established further, but it already suggests that in the early dense universe stronger merger events led to more powerful starbursts accompanying the quasar phenomenon, while at later cosmic epochs any coeval starbursts obviously do not reach that high power and are outshone by the AGN. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract.

Haas, M.↗

High-Resolution Large Field-of-View FUV Compact Camera

The need for a high resolution camera with a large field of view and capable to image dim emissions in the far-ultraviolet is driven by the widely varying intensities of FUV emissions and spatial/temporal scales of phenomena of interest in the Earth% ionosphere. In this paper, the concept of a camera is presented that is designed to achieve these goals in a lightweight package with sufficient visible light rejection to be useful for dayside and nightside emissions. The camera employs the concept of self-filtering to achieve good spectral resolution tuned to specific wavelengths. The large field of view is sufficient to image the Earth's disk at Geosynchronous altitudes and capable of a spatial resolution of >20 km. The optics and filters are emphasized.

Spann, James F.↗

From Auroras to Sea Ice: Views From the International Space Station and Plans for International Polar Year

For more than 40 years astronauts have been observing Earth, taking photographs or digital images from their spacecraft. Today, a robust program of observation from the International Space Station (ISS) has yielded hundreds of thousands of images of the Earth s surface collected since 2001. Seeing Earth through the eyes of an astronaut is exciting to the general public, and the images are popular in classrooms. Because the ISS has an orbital inclination of 51.6 degrees (the north-south limits of the orbit are at 51.6 degrees latitude), high latitude observations are common. Some of the most striking images collected include views of polar phenomena. Astronauts routinely pass above brilliant red and green aurora; view high, wispy clouds at the top of the atmosphere; or look down on glaciers and floating ice rafts. These images, framed and captured by humans, are easily interpreted by students and teachers. Astronaut observations provide a way to visualize complicated polar phenomena and communicate about them to students of all ages. Over the next two years, astronauts aboard the ISS will formally focus their observations on polar phenomena as participants in the International Polar Year (IPY). Imagery acquisition from the ISS will be coordinated with other IPY scientists staging studies and field campaigns on the ground. The imagery collected from the ISS will be cataloged and served on NASA s web-based database of images, http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov . The website allows investigators, students and teachers to search through the imagery, assemble image datasets, and download the imagery and the metadata. We display some of the most spectacular examples of polar imagery and demonstrate NASA s database of astronaut images of Earth.

Evans, Cynthia A.↗

Using Relative Position and Temporal Judgments to Assess the Effects of Texture and Field of View on Spatial Awareness for Synthetic Vision Systems Displays

Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) depict computer generated views of terrain surrounding an aircraft. In the assessment of textures and field of view (FOV) for SVS, no studies have directly measured the 3 levels of spatial awareness: identification of terrain, its relative spatial location, and its relative temporal location. This work introduced spatial awareness measures and used them to evaluate texture and FOV in SVS displays. Eighteen pilots made 4 judgments (relative angle, distance, height, and abeam time) regarding the location of terrain points displayed in 112 5-second, non-interactive simulations of a SVS heads down display. Texture produced significant main effects and trends for the magnitude of error in the relative distance, angle, and abeam time judgments. FOV was significant for the directional magnitude of error in the relative distance, angle, and height judgments. Pilots also provided subjective terrain awareness ratings that were compared with the judgment based measures. The study found that elevation fishnet, photo fishnet, and photo elevation fishnet textures best supported spatial awareness for both the judgments and the subjective awareness measures.

Bolton, Matthew L.↗

Constructing Space-Time Views from Fixed Size Statistical Data: Getting the Best of both Worlds

Many performance monitoring tools are currently available to the super-computing community. The performance data gathered and analyzed by these tools fall under two categories: statistics and event traces. Statistical data is much more compact but lacks the probative power event traces offer. Event traces, on the other hand, can easily fill up the entire file system during execution such that the instrumented execution may have to be terminated half way through. In this paper, we propose an innovative methodology for performance data gathering and representation that offers a middle ground. The user can trade-off tracing overhead, trace data size vs. data quality incrementally. In other words, the user will be able to limit the amount of trace collected and, at the same time, carry out some of the analysis event traces offer using space-time views for the entire execution. Two basic ideas arc employed: the use of averages to replace recording data for each instance and formulae to represent sequences associated with communication and control flow. With the help of a few simple examples, we illustrate the use of these techniques in performance tuning and compare the quality of the traces we collected vs. event traces. We found that the trace files thus obtained are, in deed, small, bounded and predictable before program execution and that the quality of the space time views generated from these statistical data are excellent. Furthermore, experimental results showed that the formulae proposed were able to capture 100% of all the sequences associated with 11 of the 15 applications tested. The performance of the formulae can be incrementally improved by allocating more memory at run-time to learn longer sequences.

Schmidt, Melisa↗

Method and systems for collecting data from multiple fields of view

Systems and methods for processing light from multiple fields (48, 54, 55) of view without excessive machinery for scanning optical elements. In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, multiple holographic optical elements (41, 42, 43, 44, 45), integrated on a common film (4), diffract and project light from respective fields of view.

Schwemmer, Geary K.↗

Suzaku View of the Swift/BAT Active Galactic Nuclei (I): Spectral Analysis of Six AGNs and Evidence for Two Types of Obscured Population

We present a systematic spectral analysis with Suzaku of six AGNs detected in the Swift/BAT hard X-ray (15-200 keV) survey, Swift J0138.6-4001, J0255.2-0011, J0350.1-5019, J0505.7-2348, J0601.9-8636, and J1628.1-5145. This is considered to be a representative sample of new AGNs without X-ray spectral information before the BAT survey. We find that the 0.5-200 keV spectra of these sources can be uniformly fit with a base model consisting of heavily absorbed (log NH >23.5/sq cm) transmitted components, scattered lights, a reflection component, and an iron-K emission line. There are two distinct groups, three "new type" AGNs (including the two sources reported by Ueda et al. 2007) with an extremely small scattered fraction (f(sub scat) < 0:5%) and strong reflection component (R = omega/2pi > or equal to 0.8 where omega is the solid angle of the reflector), and three "classical type" ones with f(sub scat > 0.5% and R < or approx. 0.8. The spectral parameters suggest that the new type has an optically thick torus for Thomson scattering (N(sub H) approx. 10(exp 25)/sq cm) with a small opening angle theta approx. 20deg viewed in a rather face-on geometry, while the classical type has a thin torus (N(sub H) approx. 10(exp 23-24)/sq cm) with theta > or approx. 30deg. We infer that a significant number of new type AGNs with an edge-on view is missing in the current all-sky hard X-ray surveys. Subject headings: galaxies: active . gamma rays: observations . X-rays: galaxies . X-rays: general

Eguchi, Satoshi↗

NATO Human View Architecture and Human Networks

The NATO Human View is a system architectural viewpoint that focuses on the human as part of a system. Its purpose is to capture the human requirements and to inform on how the human impacts the system design. The viewpoint contains seven static models that include different aspects of the human element, such as roles, tasks, constraints, training and metrics. It also includes a Human Dynamics component to perform simulations of the human system under design. One of the static models, termed Human Networks, focuses on the human-to-human communication patterns that occur as a result of ad hoc or deliberate team formation, especially teams distributed across space and time. Parameters of human teams that effect system performance can be captured in this model. Human centered aspects of networks, such as differences in operational tempo (sense of urgency), priorities (common goal), and team history (knowledge of the other team members), can be incorporated. The information captured in the Human Network static model can then be included in the Human Dynamics component so that the impact of distributed teams is represented in the simulation. As the NATO militaries transform to a more networked force, the Human View architecture is an important tool that can be used to make recommendations on the proper mix of technological innovations and human interactions.

Handley, Holly A. H.↗

Simulations of Convection Zone Flows and Measurements from Multiple Viewing Angles

A deep-focusing time-distance measurement technique has been applied to linear acoustic simulations of a solar interior perturbed by convective flows. The simulations are for the full sphere for r/R greater than 0.2. From these it is straightforward to simulate the observations from different viewing angles and to test how multiple viewing angles enhance detectibility. Some initial results will be presented.

Duvall, Thomas L.↗

Stereoscopic wide field of view imaging system

A stereoscopic imaging system incorporates a plurality of imaging devices or cameras to generate a high resolution, wide field of view image database from which images can be combined in real time to provide wide field of view or panoramic or omni-directional still or video images.

Prechtl, Eric F.↗

Stereoscopic wide field of view imaging system

A stereoscopic imaging system incorporates a plurality of imaging devices or cameras to generate a high resolution, wide field of view image database from which images can be combined in real time to provide wide field of view or panoramic or omni-directional still or video images.

Prechtl, Eric F.↗

View-Angle Dependent AIRS Cloud Radiances and Fluctuations: Implications of Organized Cloud Structures for Tropical Circulations

Interactions between wave dynamics and moisture generate clouds in a wide range of scales. Organized cloud structures produce statistically asymmetric radiances and perturbations in AIRS and AMSU-B measurements. With high resolution (approx.14 km beamwidth) and high-sensitivity instruments, these wave-modulated cloud structures can be readily detected from calibrated Levell radiance data. In this study we analyzed eight-year (2003 - 2010) statistics of AIRS cloud-induced radiances and found that in tropical convective regions the ascending (13:30 LST) measurements reveal higher view-angle asymmetry in cloud radiance than the descending (1:30 LST). The daytime asymmetry suggests 10% more cloudiness when the instrument views east, implying tilted and banded structures in most of the anvil clouds to which AIRS is sensitive. Such banded cloud structures are likely a manifestation of embedded westward propagating gravity waves in tropical convective systems. More importantly, organized cloud structures carry asymmetric momentum fluxes in addition to energy fluxes, which must be taken into account for modeling wave-wave and wave-mean flow interactions in tropical circulations.

Wu, Dong L.↗

Constraining Viewing Geometries of Pulsars with Single-Peaked Gamma-ray Profiles Using a Multiwavelength Approach

Since the launch of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi spacecraft in June 2008, the number of observed gamma-ray pulsars has increased dramatically. A large number of these are also observed at radio frequencies. Constraints on the viewing geometries of 5 of 6 gamma-ray pulsars exhibiting single-peaked gamma-ray profiles were derived using high-quality radio polarization data [1]. We obtain independent constraints on the viewing geometries of 6 by using a geometric emission code to model the Fermi LAT and radio light curves (LCs). We find fits for the magnetic inclination and observer angles by searching the solution space by eye. Our results are generally consistent with those previously obtained [1], although we do find small differences in some cases. We will indicate how the gamma-ray and radio pulse shapes as well as their relative phase lags lead to constraints in the solution space. Values for the flux correction factor (f(omega)) corresponding to the fits are also derived (with errors).

Seyffert, A. S.↗

Hemispherical Field-of-View Above-Water Surface Imager for Submarines

A document discusses solutions to the problem of submarines having to rise above water to detect airplanes in the general vicinity. Two solutions are provided, in which a sensor is located just under the water surface, and at a few to tens of meter depth under the water surface. The first option is a Fish Eye Lens (FEL) digital-camera combination, situated just under the water surface that will have near-full- hemisphere (360 azimuth and 90 elevation) field of view for detecting objects on the water surface. This sensor can provide a three-dimensional picture of the airspace both in the marine and in the land environment. The FEL is coupled to a camera and can continuously look at the entire sky above it. The camera can have an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) focal plane array that allows logic circuitry to be built directly in the sensor. The logic circuitry allows data processing to occur on the sensor head without the need for any other external electronics. In the second option, a single-photon sensitive (photon counting) detector-array is used at depth, without the need for any optics in front of it, since at this location, optical signals are scattered and arrive at a wide (tens of degrees) range of angles. Beam scattering through clouds and seawater effectively negates optical imaging at depths below a few meters under cloudy or turbulent conditions. Under those conditions, maximum collection efficiency can be achieved by using a non-imaging photon-counting detector behind narrowband filters. In either case, signals from these sensors may be fused and correlated or decorrelated with other sensor data to get an accurate picture of the object(s) above the submarine. These devices can complement traditional submarine periscopes that have a limited field of view in the elevation direction. Also, these techniques circumvent the need for exposing the entire submarine or its periscopes to the outside environment.

Hemmati, Hamid↗

A Model of Manual Control with Perspective Scene Viewing

A model of manual control during perspective scene viewing is presented, which combines the Crossover Model with a simpli ed model of perspective-scene viewing and visual- cue selection. The model is developed for a particular example task: an idealized constant- altitude task in which the operator controls longitudinal position in the presence of both longitudinal and pitch disturbances. An experiment is performed to develop and vali- date the model. The model corresponds closely with the experimental measurements, and identi ed model parameters are highly consistent with the visual cues available in the perspective scene. The modeling results indicate that operators used one visual cue for position control, and another visual cue for velocity control (lead generation). Additionally, operators responded more quickly to rotation (pitch) than translation (longitudinal).

pilot modeling↗

Impact of Satellite Viewing-Swath Width on Global and Regional Aerosol Optical Thickness Statistics and Trends

We use the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite aerosol optical thickness (AOT) product to assess the impact of reduced swath width on global and regional AOT statistics and trends. Alongtrack and across-track sampling strategies are employed, in which the full MODIS data set is sub-sampled with various narrow-swath (approximately 400-800 km) and single pixel width (approximately 10 km) configurations. Although view-angle artifacts in the MODIS AOT retrieval confound direct comparisons between averages derived from different sub-samples, careful analysis shows that with many portions of the Earth essentially unobserved, spatial sampling introduces uncertainty in the derived seasonal-regional mean AOT. These AOT spatial sampling artifacts comprise up to 60%of the full-swath AOT value under moderate aerosol loading, and can be as large as 0.1 in some regions under high aerosol loading. Compared to full-swath observations, narrower swath and single pixel width sampling exhibits a reduced ability to detect AOT trends with statistical significance. On the other hand, estimates of the global, annual mean AOT do not vary significantly from the full-swath values as spatial sampling is reduced. Aggregation of the MODIS data at coarse grid scales (10 deg) shows consistency in the aerosol trends across sampling strategies, with increased statistical confidence, but quantitative errors in the derived trends are found even for the full-swath data when compared to high spatial resolution (0.5 deg) aggregations. Using results of a model-derived aerosol reanalysis, we find consistency in our conclusions about a seasonal-regional spatial sampling artifact in AOT Furthermore, the model shows that reduced spatial sampling can amount to uncertainty in computed shortwave top-ofatmosphere aerosol radiative forcing of 2-3 W m(sup−2). These artifacts are lower bounds, as possibly other unconsidered sampling strategies would perform less well. These results suggest that future aerosol satellite missions having significantly less than full-swath viewing are unlikely to sample the true AOT distribution well enough to obtain the statistics needed to reduce uncertainty in aerosol direct forcing of climate.

remote sensing↗

Stroboscopic Image Modulation to Reduce the Visual Blur of an Object Being Viewed by an Observer Experiencing Vibration

A method and apparatus for reducing the visual blur of an object being viewed by an observer experiencing vibration. In various embodiments of the present invention, the visual blur is reduced through stroboscopic image modulation (SIM). A SIM device is operated in an alternating "on/off" temporal pattern according to a SIM drive signal (SDS) derived from the vibration being experienced by the observer. A SIM device (controlled by a SIM control system) operates according to the SDS serves to reduce visual blur by "freezing" (or reducing an image's motion to a slow drift) the visual image of the viewed object. In various embodiments, the SIM device is selected from the group consisting of illuminator(s), shutter(s), display control system(s), and combinations of the foregoing (including the use of multiple illuminators, shutters, and display control systems).

Kaiser, Mary K.↗