2,867 research outputs found
Efficient Reduction of CO\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e in a Solid Oxide Electrolyzer
The electrolysis of CO2 has been examined in a solid oxide electrolyzer (SOE) using a ceramic electrode based on La0.8Sr0.2Cr0.5Mn0.5O3 (LSCM), infiltrated into a yttria-stabilized zirconia scaffold together with 0.5 wt % Pd supported on 5 wt % Ce0.48Zr0.48Y0.04O2. An SOE with this electrode exhibited a total cell impedance of 0.36 Ω cm2 at 1073 K for operation in CO–CO2 mixtures. An additional benefit is that the CO–CO2 electrode was shown to be redox stable, with LSCM exhibiting good conductivity in both oxidizing and reducing environments, so that the cell can operate in pure CO2
The contamination of the surface of Vesta by impacts and the delivery of the dark material
The Dawn spacecraft observed the presence of dark material, which in turn
proved to be associated with OH and H-rich material, on the surface of Vesta.
The source of this dark material has been identified with the low albedo
asteroids, but it is still a matter of debate whether the delivery of the dark
material is associated with a few large impact events, to micrometeorites or to
the continuous, secular flux of impactors on Vesta. The continuous flux
scenario predicts that a significant fraction of the exogenous material
accreted by Vesta should be due to non-dark impactors likely analogous to
ordinary chondrites, which instead represent only a minor contaminant in the
HED meteorites. We explored the continuous flux scenario and its implications
for the composition of the vestan regolith, taking advantage of the data from
the Dawn mission and the HED meteorites. We used our model to show that the
stochastic events scenario and the micrometeoritic flux scenario are natural
consequences of the continuous flux scenario. We then used the model to
estimate the amounts of dark and hydroxylate materials delivered on Vesta since
the LHB and we showed how our results match well with the values estimated by
the Dawn mission. We used our model to assess the amount of Fe and siderophile
elements that the continuous flux of impactors would mix in the vestan
regolith: concerning the siderophile elements, we focused our attention on the
role of Ni. The results are in agreement with the data available on the Fe and
Ni content of the HED meteorites and can be used as a reference frame in future
studies of the data from the Dawn mission and of the HED meteorites. Our model
cannot yet provide an answer to the fate of the missing non-carbonaceous
contaminants, but we discuss possible reasons for this discrepancy.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication on the
journal ICARUS, "Dark and Bright Materials on Vesta" special issu
Ground-based Characterization of Hayabusa2 Mission Target Asteroid 162173 Ryugu: Constraining Mineralogical Composition in Preparation for Spacecraft Operations
Asteroids that are targets of spacecraft missions are interesting because
they present us with an opportunity to validate ground-based spectral
observations. One such object is near-Earth asteroid (NEA) (162173) Ryugu,
which is the target of the Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) Hayabusa2 sample
return mission. We observed Ryugu using the 3-m NASA Infrared Telescope
Facility (IRTF) on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, on July 13, 2016 to constrain the
object's surface composition, meteorite analogs, and link to other asteroids in
the main belt and NEA populations. We also modeled its photometric properties
using archival data. Using the Lommel-Seeliger model we computed the predicted
flux for Ryugu at a wide range of viewing geometries as well as albedo
quantities such as geometric albedo, phase integral, and spherical Bond albedo.
Our computed albedo quantities are consistent with results from Ishiguro et al.
(2014). Our spectral analysis has found a near-perfect match between our
spectrum of Ryugu and those of NEA (85275) 1994 LY and Mars-crossing asteroid
(316720) 1998 BE7, suggesting that their surface regoliths have similar
composition. We compared Ryugu's spectrum with that of main belt asteroid (302)
Clarissa, the largest asteroid in the Clarissa asteroid family, suggested as a
possible source of Ryugu by Campins et al. (2013). We found that the spectrum
of Clarissa shows significant differences with our spectrum of Ryugu, but it is
similar to the spectrum obtained by Moskovitz et al. (2013). The best possible
meteorite analogs for our spectrum of Ryugu are two CM2 carbonaceous
chondrites, Mighei and ALH83100.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted in Monthly Notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society Main Journa
A mathematical model for mechanotransduction at the early steps of suture formation
Growth and patterning of craniofacial sutures are subjected to the effects of mechanical stress. Mechanotransduction processes occurring at the margins of the sutures are not precisely understood. Here, we propose a simple theoretical model based on the orientation of collagen fibres within the suture in response to local stress. We demonstrate that fibre alignment generates an instability leading to the emergence of interdigitations. We confirm the appearance of this instability both analytically and numerically. To support our model, we use histology and synchrotron x-ray microtomography and reveal the fine structure of fibres within the sutural mesenchyme and their insertion into the bone. Furthermore, using a mouse model with impaired mechanotransduction, we show that the architecture of sutures is disturbed when forces are not interpreted properly. Finally, by studying the structure of sutures in the mouse, the rat, an actinopterygian (\emph{Polypterus bichir}) and a placoderm (\emph{Compagopiscis croucheri}), we show that bone deposition patterns during dermal bone growth are conserved within jawed vertebrates. In total, these results support the role of mechanical constraints in the growth and patterning of craniofacial sutures, a process that was probably effective at the emergence of gnathostomes, and provide new directions for the understanding of normal and pathological suture fusion
Triggering the expression of a silent gene cluster from genetically intractable bacteria results in scleric acid discovery
In this study, we report the rapid characterisation of a novel microbial natural product resulting from the rational derepression of a silent gene cluster. A conserved set of five regulatory genes was used as a query to search genomic databases and identify atypical biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). A 20-kb BGC from the genetically intractable Streptomyces sclerotialus bacterial strain was captured using yeast-based homologous recombination and introduced into validated heterologous hosts. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing was then employed to rationally inactivate the key transcriptional repressor and trigger production of an unprecedented class of hybrid natural products exemplified by (2-(benzoyloxy)acetyl)-L-proline, named scleric acid. Subsequent rounds of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene deletions afforded a selection of biosynthetic gene mutant strains which led to a plausible biosynthetic pathway for scleric acid assembly. Synthetic standards of scleric acid and a key biosynthetic intermediate were also prepared to confirm the chemical structures we proposed. The assembly of scleric acid involves two unique condensation reactions catalysed by a single NRPS module and an ATP-grasp enzyme that link a proline and a benzoyl residue to each end of a rare hydroxyethyl-ACP intermediate respectively. Scleric acid was shown to exhibit moderate inhibition activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as well as inhibition of the cancer-associated metabolic enzyme Nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT)
Detection of selective sweeps in structured populations : a comparison of recent methods
This work was supported by the Marie-Curie Initial Training Network INTERCROSSING (European Commission FP7). OEG was further supported by the MASTS pooling initiative (The Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). Date of Acceptance: 25/08/2015Identifying genomic regions targeted by positive selection has been a longstanding interest of evolutionary biologists. This objective was difficult to achieve until the recent emergence of Next Generation Sequencing, which is fostering the development of large-scale catalogs of genetic variation for increasing number of species. Several statistical methods have been recently developed to analyze these rich datasets but there is still a poor understanding of the conditions under which these methods produce reliable results. This study aims at filling this gap by assessing the performance of genome-scan methods that consider explicitly the physical linkage among SNPs surrounding a selected variant. Our study compares the performance of seven recent methods for the detection of selective sweeps (iHS, nSL, EHHST, xp-EHH, XP-EHHST, XPCLR and hapFLK). We use an individual-based simulation approach to investigate the power and accuracy of these methods under a wide range of population models under both hard and soft sweeps. Our results indicate that XPCLR and hapFLK perform best and can detect soft sweeps under simple population structure scenarios if migration rate is low. All methods perform poorly with moderate to high migration rates, or with weak selection and very poorly under a hierarchical population structure. Finally, no single method is able to detect both starting and nearly completed selective sweeps. However, combining several methods (XPCLR or hapFLK with iHS or nSL) can greatly increase the power to pinpoint the selected region.PostprintPeer reviewe
Composition of Near-Earth Asteroid 2008 EV5: Potential target for Robotic and Human Exploration
We observed potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) 2008 EV5 in the visible
(0.30-0.92 microns) and near-IR (0.75-2.5 microns) wavelengths to determine its
surface composition. This asteroid is especially interesting because it is a
potential target for two sample return mission proposals (Marco Polo-R and
Hayabusa-2) and human exploration due to its low delta-v for rendezvous. The
spectrum of 2008 EV5 is essentially featureless with exception of a weak
0.48-microns spin-forbidden Fe3+ absorption band. The spectrum also has an
overall blue slope. The albedo of 2008 EV5 remains uncertain with a lower limit
at 0.05 and a higher end at 0.20 based on thermal modeling. The Busch et al.
(2011) albedo estimate of 0.12 is consistent with our thermal modeling results.
The albedo and composition of 2008 EV5 are also consistent with a C-type
taxonomic classification (Somers et al. 2008). The best spectral match is with
CI carbonaceous chondrites similar to Orgueil, which also have a weak
0.48-microns feature and an overall blue slope. This 0.48-microns feature is
also seen in the spectrum of magnetite. The albedo of CI chondrites is at the
lower limit of our estimated range for the albedo of 2008 EV5.Comment: Pages: 19 Figures: 6 Tables:
Uit de mest- en mineralenprogramma's : Bodemvruchtbaarheid op De Marke: ontwikkelingen bij aangepast mineralenbeheer en gevolgen voor productiviteit
Op het Proefbedrijf voor Melkveehouderij en Milieu 'De Marke' wordt sinds 1993 een aangepast bodem- en gewasbeheer in praktijk gebracht om op droge zandgrond aan de milieunormen te voldoen bij een gemiddelde productie-intensiteit van melk. De aanvoer van stikstof naar de bodem is de helft lager dan wat gangbaar is in de melkveehouderij. De fosfaataanvoer is ingesteld op het niveau van evenwichtsbemesting. In een recente studie is ingegaan op de vraag of de bodemvruchtbaarheid op een voldoende hoog niveau gehandhaafd kan blijven bij deze sterk verminderde aanvoer van nutriënten. De ontwikkeling van de bodemvruchtbaarheid (de fosfaattoestand, het organische stofgehalte en de N-voorraad) werd afgeleid van bodemmonsters die verzameld zijn sinds 1989. Daarnaast is ook gekeken naar de invloed van de bodemvruchtbaarheid op de gewasopbrengs
Electrospinning of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin aqueous solutions with added salts
It has been proposed that hydrogen bonding plays a role in promoting the electrospinnability of some materials. In this study, the role of non-covalent interactions in the electrospinnability of 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (2HP-β-CD) was investigated by varying the physical-chemical properties the solvents. The rheological behaviour of a peroxide-aqueous/acetone-ethanol/NaHCO3 solution and an aqueous urea solution, as a function of aqueous 2HP-β-CD concentration, was compared. The rheological behaviour of 2HP-β-CD solutions was characterized by a frequency-independent stress relaxation plateau such as that observed in cross-linked polymer networks and reversible polymer gels with non-linear viscoelasticity. We conclude that the electrospinnability of 2HP-β-CD is, as evidenced by the changes in the morphology of the electrospun 2HP-β-CD materials, in agreement with other related studies on the electrospinning of Cyclodextrins. Also, the electrospinnability of 2HP-β-CD does appear to be related to the physical-chemical properties of the solvent systems
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