| 1. |
- de Jong, R. S., et al.
(author)
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4MOST : Project overview and information for the First Call for Proposals
- 2019
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In: The Messenger. - : European Southern Observatory. - 0722-6691. ; 175, s. 3-11
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- We introduce the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST), a new high-multiplex, wide-field spectroscopic survey facility under development for the four-metre-class Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at Paranal. Its key specifications are: a large field of view (FoV) of 4.2 square degrees and a high multiplex capability, with 1624 fibres feeding two low-resolution spectrographs (R = λ/Δλ ~ 6500), and 812 fibres transferring light to the high-resolution spectrograph (R ~ 20 000). After a description of the instrument and its expected performance, a short overview is given of its operational scheme and planned 4MOST Consortium science; these aspects are covered in more detail in other articles in this edition of The Messenger. Finally, the processes, schedules, and policies concerning the selection of ESO Community Surveys are presented, commencing with a singular opportunity to submit Letters of Intent for Public Surveys during the first five years of 4MOST operations.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Nijkamp, P., et al.
(author)
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Towards a regional science academy : A manifesto
- 2016
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In: Region. - : European Regional Science Association. - 2409-5370. ; 3:1, s. R1-R16
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This Manifesto provides a joint proposal to create a Regional Science Academy as a think-tank support platform for a strategic development of the spatial sciences. The Regional Science Academy is a strategic spatial knowledge catalyst: it acts as a global intellectual powerhouse for new knowledge network initiatives and scholarly views on regions and cities as vital centrepieces of interconnected spatial systems. This contribution highlights its role and presents various activity plans.
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| 4. |
- Ade, Peter, et al.
(author)
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The Simons Observatory : science goals and forecasts
- 2019
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In: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. - : IOP Publishing. - 1475-7516. ; :2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Simons Observatory (SO) is a new cosmic microwave background experiment being built on Cerro Toco in Chile, due to begin observations in the early 2020s. We describe the scientific goals of the experiment, motivate the design, and forecast its performance. SO will measure the temperature and polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background in six frequency bands centered at: 27, 39, 93, 145, 225 and 280 GHz. The initial con figuration of SO will have three small-aperture 0.5-m telescopes and one large-aperture 6-m telescope, with a total of 60,000 cryogenic bolometers. Our key science goals are to characterize the primordial perturbations, measure the number of relativistic species and the mass of neutrinos, test for deviations from a cosmological constant, improve our understanding of galaxy evolution, and constrain the duration of reionization. The small aperture telescopes will target the largest angular scales observable from Chile, mapping approximate to 10% of the sky to a white noise level of 2 mu K-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, to measure the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, at a target level of sigma(r) = 0.003. The large aperture telescope will map approximate to 40% of the sky at arcminute angular resolution to an expected white noise level of 6 mu K-arcmin in combined 93 and 145 GHz bands, overlapping with the majority of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope sky region and partially with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. With up to an order of magnitude lower polarization noise than maps from the Planck satellite, the high-resolution sky maps will constrain cosmological parameters derived from the damping tail, gravitational lensing of the microwave background, the primordial bispectrum, and the thermal and kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects, and will aid in delensing the large-angle polarization signal to measure the tensor-to-scalar ratio. The survey will also provide a legacy catalog of 16,000 galaxy clusters and more than 20,000 extragalactic sources.
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| 5. |
- Emery, Samantha J., et al.
(author)
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Differential protein expression and post-translational modifications in metronidazole-resistant Giardia duodenalis
- 2018
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In: GigaScience. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 2047-217X. ; 7:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Metronidazole (Mtz) is the frontline drug treatment for multiple anaerobic pathogens, including the gastrointestinal protist, Giardia duodenalis. However, treatment failure is common and linked to in vivo drug resistance. In Giardia, in vitro drug-resistant lines allow controlled experimental interrogation of resistance mechanisms in isogenic cultures. However, resistance-associated changes are inconsistent between lines, phenotypic data are incomplete, and resistance is rarely genetically fixed, highlighted by reversion to sensitivity after drug selection ceases or via passage through the life cycle. Comprehensive quantitative approaches are required to resolve isolate variability, fully define Mtz resistance phenotypes, and explore the role of post-translational modifications therein. Findings: We performed quantitative proteomics to describe differentially expressed proteins in 3 seminal Mtz-resistant lines compared to their isogenic, Mtz-susceptible, parental line. We also probed changes in post-translational modifications including protein acetylation, methylation, ubiquitination, and phosphorylation via immunoblotting. We quantified more than 1,000 proteins in each genotype, recording substantial genotypic variation in differentially expressed proteins between isotypes. Our data confirm substantial changes in the antioxidant network, glycolysis, and electron transport and indicate links between protein acetylation and Mtz resistance, including cross-resistance to deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A in Mtz-resistant lines. Finally, we performed the first controlled, longitudinal study of Mtz resistance stability, monitoring lines after cessation of drug selection, revealing isolate-dependent phenotypic plasticity. Conclusions: Our data demonstrate understanding that Mtz resistance must be broadened to post-transcriptional and post-translational responses and that Mtz resistance is polygenic, driven by isolate-dependent variation, and is correlated with changes in protein acetylation networks.
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| 6. |
- He, H. J., et al.
(author)
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Multilaboratory Assessment of a New Reference Material for Quality Assurance of Cell-Free Tumor DNA Measurements
- 2019
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In: Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. - : Elsevier BV. - 1525-1578. ; 21:4, s. 658-676
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We conducted a multilaboratory assessment to determine the suitability of a new commercially available reference material with 40 cancer variants in a background of wild-type DNA at four different variant allele frequencies (VAFs): 2%, 0.50%, 0.125%, and 0%. The variants include single nucleotides, insertions, deletions, and two structural variations selected for their clinical importance and to challenge the performance of next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods. Fragmented DNA was formulated to simulate the size distribution of circulating wild-type and tumor DNA in a synthetic plasma matrix. DNA was extracted from these samples and characterized with different methods and multiple laboratories. The various extraction methods had differences in yield, perhaps because of differences in chemistry. Digital PCR assays were used to measure VAFs to compare results from different NGS methods. Comparable VAFs were observed across the different NGS methods. This multilaboratory assessment demonstrates that the new reference material is an appropriate tool to determine the analytical parameters of different measurement methods and to ensure their quality assurance.
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| 7. |
- De Jong, Roelof S., et al.
(author)
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4MOST : The 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope project at preliminary design review
- 2016
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In: Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI. - : SPIE. - 1996-756X .- 0277-786X. - 9781510601956 ; 9908
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present an overview of the 4MOST project at the Preliminary Design Review. 4MOST is a major new wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility under development for the VISTA telescope of ESO. 4MOST has a broad range of science goals ranging from Galactic Archaeology and stellar physics to the high-energy physics, galaxy evolution, and cosmology. Starting in 2021, 4MOST will deploy 2436 fibres in a 4.1 square degree field-of-view using a positioner based on the tilting spine principle. The fibres will feed one high-resolution (R∼20,000) and two medium resolution (R∼5000) spectrographs with fixed 3-channel designs and identical 6k x 6k CCD detectors. 4MOST will have a unique operations concept in which 5-year public surveys from both the consortium and the ESO community will be combined and observed in parallel during each exposure. The 4MOST Facility Simulator (4FS) was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of this observing concept, showing that we can expect to observe more than 25 million objects in each 5-year survey period and will eventually be used to plan and conduct the actual survey.
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| 8. |
- Jimenez Berrocoso, Alvaro, et al.
(author)
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The Lindi Formation (upper Albian-Coniacian) and Tanzania Drilling Project Sites 36-40 (Lower Cretaceous to Paleogene) : Lithostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and chemostratigraphy
- 2015
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In: Journal of African earth sciences. - : Elsevier BV. - 1464-343X. ; 101, s. 282-308
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The 2009 Tanzania Drilling Project (TDP) expedition to southeastern Tanzania cored a total of 572.3 m of sediments at six new mid-Cretaceous to mid-Paleocene boreholes (TDP Sites 36, 37, 38, 39, 40A, 40B). Added to the sites drilled in 2007 and 2008, the new boreholes confirm the common excellent preservation of planktonic and benthic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils from core samples that will be used for biostratigraphy, evolutionary studies, paleoceanography and climatic reconstructions from the Tanzanian margin, with implications elsewhere. The new sites verify the presence of a relatively expanded Upper Cretaceous succession in the region that has allowed a new stratigraphic unit, named here as the Lindi Formation (Fm), to be formally defined. The Lindi Fm (upper Albian to Coniacian), extending similar to 120 km between Kilwa and Lindi, comprises a 335-m-thick, outer-shelf to upper-slope unit, consisting of dark gray claystone and siltstone interbeds, common finely-laminated intervals, minor cm-thick sandstones and up to 2.6% organic carbon in the Turonian. A subsurface, composite stratotype section is proposed for the Lindi Fm, with a gradational top boundary with the overlying Nangurukuru Fm (Santonian to Maastrichtian) and a sharp bottom contact with underlying upper Albian sandstones. The section cored at TDP Sites 36 and 38 belongs to the Lindi Fm and are of lower to middle Turonian age (planktonic foraminifera Whiteinella archaeocretacea to Helvetoglobotruncana helvetica Zones and nannofossils subzones UC6b +/- UC7). The lower portion of TDP Site 39 (uppermost part of the Lindi Fm) is assigned to the lower to upper Coniacian (planktonic foraminifera Dicarinella concavata Zone and nannofossils zone UC 10), while the remaining part of this site is attributed to the Coniacian-Santonian transition and younger Santonian (planktonic foraminifera D. asymetrica Zone and upper part of nannofossils zone UC10). TDP Site 37 recovered relatively expanded (150 m thick), monotonous calcareous claystones from the lower to upper Maastrichtian (planktonic foraminifera Pseudoguembelina palpebra to Abathomphalus mayaroensis Zones and nannofossils zones UC19 to UC20a(TP)) that were separated by a hiatus and/or a faulted contact from overlying brecciated carbonates of the Selandian (middle Paleocene: PF Zone P3 and nannofossil zone NP5). The lower portion of TDP Sites 40A and 40B recovered sandstones and conglomerates barren of microfossils. Their overlying parts were assigned to incomplete sections of the nannofossil zones NC6A to NC8 (uppermost Barremian to lower Albian). Benthic foraminiferal assemblages allowed the Barremian to lower Aptian to be identified in TDP Sites 40A and 40B, while the upper Aptian to middle Albian (Hedbergella trocoidea to Ticinella primula Zones) were assigned using planktonic foraminifera. Cores recovered at TDP 39 (Coniacian-Santonian) and at TDP Sites 40A and 40B (Barremian-middle Albian) represent the first time that these two intervals have been continuously cored and publicly documented in Tanzania. Bulk sediment isotope records generated for the new sites show lower delta O-18(carb) values in the Turonian and Santonian (similar to-3.5 parts per thousand to -5 parts per thousand) than in the Maastrichtian (similar to-3 parts per thousand), a situation consistent with extreme global warmth in the older intervals and cooling toward the end of the Cretaceous. Also, similar to Turonian sites from previous TDP expeditions, a negative delta C-13(org) excursion was detected across the W. archaeocretacea-H. helvetica boundary of TDP Site 36 (close to, but above, the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary). This excursion probably responded to local processes in the region, but it is unknown whether they were related to the recovery phase from Ocean Anoxic Event 2.
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