We describe system verification tests and early science results from the pulsar processor (PTUSE) developed for the newly commissioned 64-dish SARAO MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa. MeerKAT is a high-gain ( ${\sim}2.8\,\mbox{K Jy}^{-1}$ ) low-system temperature ( ${\sim}18\,\mbox{K at }20\,\mbox{cm}$ ) radio array that currently operates at 580–1 670 MHz and can produce tied-array beams suitable for pulsar observations. This paper presents results from the MeerTime Large Survey Project and commissioning tests with PTUSE. Highlights include observations of the double pulsar $\mbox{J}0737{-}3039\mbox{A}$ , pulse profiles from 34 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) from a single 2.5-h observation of the Globular cluster Terzan 5, the rotation measure of Ter5O, a 420-sigma giant pulse from the Large Magellanic Cloud pulsar PSR $\mbox{J}0540{-}6919$ , and nulling identified in the slow pulsar PSR J0633–2015. One of the key design specifications for MeerKAT was absolute timing errors of less than 5 ns using their novel precise time system. Our timing of two bright MSPs confirm that MeerKAT delivers exceptional timing. PSR $\mbox{J}2241{-}5236$ exhibits a jitter limit of $<4\,\mbox{ns h}^{-1}$ whilst timing of PSR $\mbox{J}1909{-}3744$ over almost 11 months yields an rms residual of 66 ns with only 4 min integrations. Our results confirm that the MeerKAT is an exceptional pulsar telescope. The array can be split into four separate sub-arrays to time over 1 000 pulsars per day and the future deployment of S-band (1 750–3 500 MHz) receivers will further enhance its capabilities.

A pen infection-transmission experiment was conducted to elucidate the role of pathogen strain and environmental contamination in transmission of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (ECO157) in cattle. Five steers were inoculated with a three-strain mixture of ECO157 and joined with five susceptible steers in each of two experimental replicates. Faecal and environmental samples were monitored for ECO157 presence over 30 days. One ECO157 strain did not spread. Transmission rates for the other two strains were estimated using a generalized linear model developed based on a modified ‘Susceptible–Infectious–Susceptible’ mathematical model. Transmission rates estimated for the two strains (0·11 and 0·14) were similar. However, the rates significantly (P = 0·0006) increased 1·5 times for every 1-unit increase in the level of environmental contamination measured as log10 c.f.u. Depending on the level of environmental contamination, the estimated basic reproduction numbers varied from <1 to 8. The findings indicate the importance of on-farm measures to reduce environmental contamination for ECO157 control in cattle that should be validated under field conditions.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, July 29 – August 2, 2012.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

The science of extra-solar planets is one of the most rapidly changing areas of astrophysics and since 1995 the number of planets known has increased by almost two orders of magnitude. A combination of ground-based surveys and dedicated space missions has resulted in 560-plus planets being detected, and over 1200 that await confirmation. NASA's Kepler mission has opened up the possibility of discovering Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around some of the 100,000 stars it is surveying during its 3 to 4-year lifetime. The new ESA's Gaia mission is expected to discover thousands of new planets around stars within 200 parsecs of the Sun. The key challenge now is moving on from discovery, important though that remains, to characterisation: what are these planets actually like, and why are they as they are?

In the past ten years, we have learned how to obtain the first spectra of exoplanets using transit transmission and emission spectroscopy. With the high stability of Spitzer, Hubble, and large ground-based telescopes the spectra of bright close-in massive planets can be obtained and species like water vapour, methane, carbon monoxide and dioxide have been detected. With transit science came the first tangible remote sensing of these planetary bodies and so one can start to extrapolate from what has been learnt from Solar System probes to what one might plan to learn about their faraway siblings. As we learn more about the atmospheres, surfaces and near-surfaces of these remote bodies, we will begin to build up a clearer picture of their construction, history and suitability for life.

The Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory, EChO, will be the first dedicated mission to investigate the physics and chemistry of Exoplanetary Atmospheres. By characterising spectroscopically more bodies in different environments we will take detailed planetology out of the Solar System and into the Galaxy as a whole.

EChO has now been selected by the European Space Agency to be assessed as one of four M3 mission candidates.

The electronic properties of working nanocrystalline silicon (nc-Si:H) solar cell devices with conversion efficiencies up to 8.6% were studied using junction capacitance methods. The set of devices examined were deposited on both specular stainless steel substrates and Ag/ZnO textured back reflectors. These devices included nc-Si:H grown under constant H2 dilution, and also with profiled H2 dilution to control the crystallite sizes and volume fraction. Transient photocapacitance and transient photocurrent spectroscopies were used to obtain sub-band-gap optical spectra. A comparison of these two kinds of spectra also allowed us to deduce the minority carrier collection fractions as a function of temperature and light-induced degradation. Light-soaking was found to cause a distinct decrease in minority carrier collection, as well as a consistent decrease in defects responding to drive-level capacitance profiling. A tentative microscopic model is proposed that accounts for these degradation effects in nc-Si:H.

We have examined the electronic properties of intrinsic amorphous silicon films as a function of deposition rate, and compared these with the performance of companion solar cell p-i-n devices. The device efficiency in the light-soaked state was strongly inversely correlated with growth rate. Film properties were evaluated in both the as-grown and light soaked states using drive-level capacitance profiling and transient photocapacitance spectroscopy. Although deep defect densities measured by drive-level capacitance profiling did not vary significantly between samples, the magnitude of the defect band deduced via transient photocapacitance spectroscopy was well correlated with device performance. Possible reasons for this discrepancy are discussed. Urbach energies were also correlated with film growth rate.

In this paper we consider an infinite buffer fluid model whose input is driven by independent semi-Markov processes. The output capacity of the buffer is a constant. We derive upper and lower bounds for the limiting distribution of the stationary buffer content process. We discuss examples and applications where the results can be used to determine bounds on the loss probability in telecommunication networks.

Volatile antimony precursors were synthesized for the low temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of antimony thin films. The molecules synthesized include tris (trifluoromethyl)stibine, Sb(CF3)3, Lewis base adducts of Sb(CF3)3, and antimony trihydride (stibine), SbH3. Isotopie substitution of stibine with deuterium leads to a more thermally stable, carbon-free antimony source. Similarly, deuterium substitution of trimethylsilylmethyl antimony dihydride leads to a stabilized liquid antimony precursor. The molecules were characterized using FTIR, NMR and DSC / TGA. Pure antimony films were deposited at temperatures below 300 °C with growth rates approaching 170 Å / min using a low pressure hot-wall CVD reactor. The films were characterized using XRD, EDS, SEM and AFM.