992 research outputs found
A simple approach to estimating three-dimensional supercavitating flow fields
A simple method is formulated for predicting three-dimensional supercavitating flow behind cavitators subject to gravitational acceleration and motion of the cavitator. The method applies slenderbody theory in the context of matched asymptotic expansions to pose an inner problem for the cavity evolution downstream from the locus of cavity detachment. This inner problem is solved by means of a coupled set of equations for the Fourier coefficients characterizing the cavity radius and the velocity potential as a function of downstream location and circumferential location, thus resulting in a two-dimensional multipole solution at each station. For the lowestorder term in the Fourier expansion, it is necessary to match the parabolic inner solution to a fully elliptic outer solution. This step allows the application of any one of a number of methods to solve the axisymmetric problem, which serves as the base solution that is perturbed by the three-dimensional effects. The method is an attempt to formalize the Logvinovich principle of independent cavity section evolution. Results flow past a circular disk cavitator are presented for severalvalues of the cavity Froude number.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/84318/1/CAV2009-final145.pd
Millimeter Wavelength Brightness Fluctuations of the Atmosphere Above the South Pole
We report measurements of the millimeter wavelength brightness fluctuations
produced by the atmosphere above the South Pole made with the Arcminute
Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR). The data span the 2002 Austral
winter during which ACBAR was mounted on the Viper telescope at the South Pole.
We recover the atmospheric signal in the presence of instrument noise by
calculating the correlation between signals from distinct elements of the ACBAR
bolometer array. With this method, it is possible to measure atmospheric
brightness fluctuations with high SNR even under the most stable atmospheric
conditions. The observed atmospheric signal is characterized by the parameters
of the Komolgorov-Taylor (KT) model, which are the amplitude and power law
exponent describing the atmospheric power spectrum, and the two components of
the wind angular velocity at the time of the observation. The KT model is
typically a good description of the observed fluctuations, and fits to the data
produce values of the Komolgorov exponent that are consistent with theoretical
expectations. By combining the wind angular velocity results with measurements
of the wind linear velocity, we find that the altitude of the observed
atmospheric fluctuations is consistent with the distribution of water vapor
determined from radiosonde data. For data corresponding to frequency passbands
centered on 150, 219, and 274 GHz, we obtain median fluctuation power
amplitudes of [10, 38, 74] mK^{2} rad^{-5/3} in Rayleigh-Jeans temperature
units. Comparing with previous work, we find that these median amplitudes are
approximately an order of magnitude smaller than those found at the South Pole
during the Austral summer and at least 30 times lower than found at the ALMA
site in the Atacama desert.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, submitted to ApJ, vertical margins fixe
Signatures of Spin Glass Freezing in NiO Nanoparticles
We present a detailed study of the magnetic properties of sol-gel prepared
nickel oxide nanoparticles of different sizes. We report various measurements
such as frequency, field and temperature dependence of ac susceptibility,
temperature and field dependence of dc magnetization and time decay of
thermoremanent magnetization. Our results and analysis show that the system
behaves as a spin glass.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
Catalysis of amide synthesis by RNA phosphodiester and hydroxyl groups
The functional groups found among the RNA bases and in the phosphoribose backbone represent a limited repertoire from which to construct a ribozyme active site. This work investigates the possibility that simple RNA phosphodiester and hydroxyl functional groups could catalyze amide bond synthesis. Reaction of amine groups with activated esters would be catalyzed by a group that stabilizes the partial positive charge on the amine nucleophile in the transition state. 2′-Amine substitutions adjacent to 3′-phosphodiester or 3′-hydroxyl groups react efficiently with activated esters to form 2′-amide and peptide products. In contrast, analogs in which the 3′-phosphodiester is replaced by an uncharged phosphotriester or is constrained in a distal conformation react at least 100-fold more slowly. Similarly, a nucleoside in which the 3′-hydroxyl group is constrained trans to the 2′-amine is also unreactive. Catalysis of synthetic reactions by RNA phosphodiester and ribose hydroxyl groups is likely to be even greater in the context of a preorganized and solvent-excluding catalytic center. One such group is the 2′-hydroxyl of the ribosome-bound P-site adenosine substrate, which is close to the amine nucleophile in the peptidyl synthesis reaction. Given ubiquitous 2′-OH groups in RNA, there exists a decisive advantage for RNA over DNA in catalyzing reactions of biological significance
Validity of the second law in nonextensive quantum thermodynamics
The second law of thermodynamics in nonextensive statistical mechanics is
discussed in the quantum regime. Making use of the convexity property of the
generalized relative entropy associated with the Tsallis entropy indexed by q,
Clausius' inequality is shown to hold in the range of q between zero and two.
This restriction on the range of the entropic index, q, is purely quantum
mechanical and there exists no upper bound of q for validity of the second law
in classical theory.Comment: 12 pages, no figure
Time decay of the remanent magnetization in the spin glass model at T=0
Using the zero-temperature Metropolis dynamics, the time decay of the
remanent magnetization in the Edward-Anderson spin glass model with a
uniform random distribution of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions
has been investigated. Starting from the saturation, the magnetization per spin
reveals a slow decrease with time, which can be approximated by a power
law:, . Moreover, its
relaxation does not lead it into one of the ground states, and therefore the
system is trapped in metastable isoenergetic microstates remaining magnetized.
Such behaviour is discussed in terms of a random walk the system performs on
its available configuration space.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Hypermethioninaemia due to methionine adenosyltransferase I/III (MAT I/III) deficiency: diagnosis in an expanded neonatal screening programme
The Expanded Newborn Screening Program (MS/MS) in the region of Galicia (NW Spain) was initiated in 2000 and includes the measurement of methionine levels in dried blood spots. Between June 2000 and June 2007, 140 818 newborns were analysed, and six cases of persistent hypermethioninaemia were detected: one homocystinuria due to cystathionine β-synthase (CβS) deficiency, and five methionine adenosyltransferase I/III (MAT I/III) deficiencies. The five cases of MAT I/III deficiency represent an incidence of 1/28 163 newborns. In these five patients, methionine levels in dried blood spots ranged from 50 to 147 μmol/L. At confirmation of the persistence of the hypermethioninaemia in a subsequent plasma sample, plasma methionine concentrations were moderately elevated in 4 of the 5 patients (mean 256 μmol/L), while total homocysteine (tHcy) was normal; the remaining patient showed plasma methionine of 573 μmol/L and tHcy of 22.8 μmol/L. All five patients were heterozygous for the same dominant mutation, R264H in the MAT1A gene. With a diet not exceeding recommended protein requirements for their age, all patients maintained methionine levels below 300 μmol/L. Currently, with a mean of 2.5 years since diagnosis, the patients are asymptomatic and show developmental quotients within the normal range. Our results show a rather high frequency of hypermethioninaemia due to MAT I/III deficiency in the Galician neonatal population, indicating a need for further studies to evaluate the impact of persistent isolated hypermethioninaemia in neonatal screening programmes
Biochemical basis for the dominant inheritance of hypermethioninemia associated with the R264H mutation of the MAT1A gene. A monomeric methionine adenosyltransferase with tripolyphosphatase activity
Methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) catalyzes the synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), the main alkylating agent in living cells. Additionally, in the liver, MAT is also responsible for up to 50% of methionine catabolism. Humans with mutations in the gene MAT1A, the gene that encodes the catalytic subunit of MAT I and III, have decreased MAT activity in liver, which results in a persistent hypermethioninemia without homocystinuria. The hypermethioninemic phenotype associated with these mutations is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. The only exception is the dominant mild hypermethioninemia associated with a G-A transition at nucleotide 791 of exon VII. This change yields a MAT1A-encoded subunit in which arginine 264 is replaced by histidine. Our results indicate that in the homologous rat enzyme, replacement of the equivalent arginine 265 by histidine (R265H) results in a monomeric MAT with only 0.37% of the AdoMet synthetic activity. However the tripolyphosphatase activity is similar to that found in the wild type (WT) MAT and is inhibited by PP(i). Our in vivo studies demonstrate that the R265H MAT I/III mutant associates with the WT subunit resulting in a dimeric R265H-WT MAT unable to synthesize AdoMet. Tripolyphosphatase activity is maintained in the hybrid MAT, but is not stimulated by methionine and ATP, indicating a deficient binding of the substrates. Our data indicate that the active site for tripolyphosphatase activity is functionally active in the monomeric R265H MAT I/III mutant. Moreover, our results provide a molecular mechanism that might explain the dominant inheritance of the hypermethioninemia associated with the R264H mutation of human MAT I/III
Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves
We present an analysis of high-precision pulsar timing data taken as part of
the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational waves (NANOGrav)
project. We have observed 17 pulsars for a span of roughly five years using the
Green Bank and Arecibo radio telescopes. We analyze these data using standard
pulsar timing models, with the addition of time-variable dispersion measure and
frequency-variable pulse shape terms. Sub-microsecond timing residuals are
obtained in nearly all cases, and the best root-mean-square timing residuals in
this set are ~30-50 ns. We present methods for analyzing post-fit timing
residuals for the presence of a gravitational wave signal with a specified
spectral shape. These optimally take into account the timing fluctuation power
removed by the model fit, and can be applied to either data from a single
pulsar, or to a set of pulsars to detect a correlated signal. We apply these
methods to our dataset to set an upper limit on the strength of the
nHz-frequency stochastic supermassive black hole gravitational wave background
of h_c (1 yr^-1) < 7x10^-15 (95%). This result is dominated by the timing of
the two best pulsars in the set, PSRs J1713+0747 and J1909-3744.Comment: To be submitted to Ap
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