950 research outputs found
Class 2 design update for the family of commuter airplanes
This is the final report of seven on the design of a family of commuter airplanes. This design effort was performed in fulfillment of NASA/USRA grant NGT-8001. Its contents are as follows: (1) the class 1 baseline designs for the commuter airplane family; (2) a study of takeoff weight penalties imposed on the commuter family due to implementing commonality objectives; (3) component structural designs common to the commuter family; (4) details of the acquisition and operating economics of the commuter family, i.e., savings due to production commonality and handling qualities commonality are determined; (5) discussion of the selection of an advanced turboprop propulsion system for the family of commuter airplanes, and (6) a proposed design for an SSSA controller design to achieve similar handling for all airplanes. Final class 2 commuter airplane designs are also presented
Bubble Raft Model for a Paraboloidal Crystal
We investigate crystalline order on a two-dimensional paraboloid of
revolution by assembling a single layer of millimeter-sized soap bubbles on the
surface of a rotating liquid, thus extending the classic work of Bragg and Nye
on planar soap bubble rafts. Topological constraints require crystalline
configurations to contain a certain minimum number of topological defects such
as disclinations or grain boundary scars whose structure is analyzed as a
function of the aspect ratio of the paraboloid. We find the defect structure to
agree with theoretical predictions and propose a mechanism for scar nucleation
in the presence of large Gaussian curvature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Learning about compact binary merger: the interplay between numerical relativity and gravitational-wave astronomy
Activities in data analysis and numerical simulation of gravitational waves
have to date largely proceeded independently. In this work we study how
waveforms obtained from numerical simulations could be effectively used within
the data analysis effort to search for gravitational waves from black hole
binaries. We propose measures to quantify the accuracy of numerical waveforms
for the purpose of data analysis and study how sensitive the analysis is to
errors in the waveforms. We estimate that ~100 templates (and ~10 simulations
with different mass ratios) are needed to detect waves from non-spinning binary
black holes with total masses in the range 100 Msun < M < 400 Msun using
initial LIGO. Of course, many more simulation runs will be needed to confirm
that the correct physics is captured in the numerical evolutions. From this
perspective, we also discuss sources of systematic errors in numerical waveform
extraction and provide order of magnitude estimates for the computational cost
of simulations that could be used to estimate the cost of parameter space
surveys. Finally, we discuss what information from near-future numerical
simulations of compact binary systems would be most useful for enhancing the
detectability of such events with contemporary gravitational wave detectors and
emphasize the role of numerical simulations for the interpretation of eventual
gravitational-wave observations.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure
Interaction of the oncoprotein transcription factor MYC with its chromatin cofactor WDR5 is essential for tumor maintenance.
The oncoprotein transcription factor MYC is overexpressed in the majority of cancers. Key to its oncogenic activity is the ability of MYC to regulate gene expression patterns that drive and maintain the malignant state. MYC is also considered a validated anticancer target, but efforts to pharmacologically inhibit MYC have failed. The dependence of MYC on cofactors creates opportunities for therapeutic intervention, but for any cofactor this requires structural understanding of how the cofactor interacts with MYC, knowledge of the role it plays in MYC function, and demonstration that disrupting the cofactor interaction will cause existing cancers to regress. One cofactor for which structural information is available is WDR5, which interacts with MYC to facilitate its recruitment to chromatin. To explore whether disruption of the MYC-WDR5 interaction could potentially become a viable anticancer strategy, we developed a Burkitt\u27s lymphoma system that allows replacement of wild-type MYC for mutants that are defective for WDR5 binding or all known nuclear MYC functions. Using this system, we show that WDR5 recruits MYC to chromatin to control the expression of genes linked to biomass accumulation. We further show that disrupting the MYC-WDR5 interaction within the context of an existing cancer promotes rapid and comprehensive tumor regression in vivo. These observations connect WDR5 to a core tumorigenic function of MYC and establish that, if a therapeutic window can be established, MYC-WDR5 inhibitors could be developed as anticancer agents
Searching for Gravitational Waves from Binary Inspirals with LIGO
We describe the current status of the search for gravitational waves from
inspiralling compact binary systems in LIGO data. We review the result from the
first scientific run of LIGO (S1). We present the goals of the search of data
taken in the second scientific run (S2) and describe the differences between
the methods used in S1 and S2.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Published in proceedings of the 8th Gravitational
Wave Data Analysis Workshop, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 17-20 December 200
Steric constraints in model proteins
A simple lattice model for proteins that allows for distinct sizes of the
amino acids is presented. The model is found to lead to a significant number of
conformations that are the unique ground state of one or more sequences or
encodable. Furthermore, several of the encodable structures are highly
designable and are the non-degenerate ground state of several sequences. Even
though the native state conformations are typically compact, not all compact
conformations are encodable. The incorporation of the hydrophobic and polar
nature of amino acids further enhances the attractive features of the model.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 3 postscript figure
Aerothermodynamic comparison of two- and three-dimensional rarefied hypersonic cavity flows
The thermal protection system is a key element in atmospheric re-entry missions of aerospace vehicles. Usually, in the thermal load calculations, the analysis assumes that the vehicle has a smooth surface. However, discontinuities or imperfections are often present on the aerospace vehicle surfaces due to fabrication tolerances, sensor installations, spaces between the thermal protection plates, and differential expansion or ablation rates between non-similar materials. In the present work, rarefied hypersonic flows over two- and three-dimensional cavities at an altitude of 80km in the Earthâs atmosphere are studied numerically. To model flows in the transitional regime, where the validity of the Navier Stokes equations is questionable, the direct simulation Monte Carlo method has been used. The primary goal is to assess the sensitivity of heat transfer, pressure, and skin-friction coefficients for a family of two- and three-dimensional cavities defined by different length-to-depth ratios. The analysis shows that an assumption of two-dimensionality plays a key role in the over prediction of the aerodynamic properties. Previous work using a continuum approach shows that two recirculation regions and flow attachment occurs when the length-to-depth ratio is equal to 14; however, the same phenomena are observed in the transitional regime when the cavity length-to-depth ratio is equal to 4. A study of the influence of the cavity width has also been conducted. It is shown that increasing the cavity width results in an augmentation of the surface aerothermodynamic quantitie
Upper limits on the strength of periodic gravitational waves from PSR J1939+2134
The first science run of the LIGO and GEO gravitational wave detectors
presented the opportunity to test methods of searching for gravitational waves
from known pulsars. Here we present new direct upper limits on the strength of
waves from the pulsar PSR J1939+2134 using two independent analysis methods,
one in the frequency domain using frequentist statistics and one in the time
domain using Bayesian inference. Both methods show that the strain amplitude at
Earth from this pulsar is less than a few times .Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the 5th Edoardo
Amaldi Conference on Gravitational Waves, Tirrenia, Pisa, Italy, 6-11 July
200
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