Miguel nuñez

We present in this paper the new cute-SCIDAR instrument, entirely developed by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), delivered recently at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Paranal Observatory, Chile). This instrument, supported by the European Community (Framework Programme 6, Extremely Large Telescope Design Study), carries out the generalized SCIntillation Detection And Ranging (g-SCIDAR) technique to obtain the temporal evolution of turbulence profiles CN 2 with height. A new design was made in order to fit the VLT Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) interfaces and control requirements. Also, a new software architecture allows a full remote control, and a data analysis pipeline provides turbulence profiles in real-time, which is the main achievement of this new cute-SCIDAR. Details of its design and results of its excellent performance are included.

Based on a unique experimental technique, measurement results are presented on the passive, remote sensing of the optical modulation transfer function of desert atmospheres (MTFA), including the dc, low, and high spatial cutoff frequency components which are attributed to contrast, aerosol, and turbulence, respectively. In particular, use of this technique has made it possible, for the first time, to directly measure the low spatial frequency cutoff of the aerosol component. This technique is based on utilizing digital image processing of remote video scenes which include two, optically identical, castellated targets which are located at different distances and are contrasted against the horizontal sky. Ratios of apparent contrast and FFT calculations are used to determine the MTFA components, including the spatial cutoff frequencies of the aerosol and turbulence components, independent of the imaging system and actual properties of the targets. The experimental technique is described along with current MTFA component measurements.

Abstract Cryptococcus neoformans is an encapsulated yeast first isolated by Busse in 1894 from the tibia of a 31-year-old woman [1]. Lungs are considered the initial site of almost all cryptoccocal infections, and the second clinically more relevant after central nervous ...