A Quantitative Methodology for Identifying Evolvable Space Systems

1st AIAA Space Exploration Conference January 2005, Orlando, FL.With the growing emphasis on spiral development, a system’s ability to evolve is becoming increasingly critical. This is especially true in systems designed for the exploration of space. While returning to the Moon is widely regarded as the next step in space exploration, our journey does not end there. Therefore, the technologies, vehicles, and systems created for near-term lunar missions should be selected and designed with the future in mind. Intelligently selecting evolvable systems requires a method for quantitatively measuring evolvability and a procedure for comparing these measurements. This paper provides a brief discussion of a quantitative methodology for evaluating space system evolvability and an in-depth application of this methodology to an example case study

Coping strategies adopted by small-scale farmers in Tanzania and Kenya to counteract problems caused by storage pests, particularly the Larger Grain Borer

Final Technical Report, Project R 6952 (1 May 1997 - 31 December 1998)

A glassy contribution to the heat capacity of hcp 4^4He solids

We model the low-temperature specific heat of solid $^4$He in the hexagonal closed packed structure by invoking two-level tunneling states in addition to the usual phonon contribution of a Debye crystal for temperatures far below the Debye temperature, $T < \Theta_D/50$. By introducing a cutoff energy in the two-level tunneling density of states, we can describe the excess specific heat observed in solid hcp $^4$He, as well as the low-temperature linear term in the specific heat. Agreement is found with recent measurements of the temperature behavior of both specific heat and pressure. These results suggest the presence of a very small fraction, at the parts-per-million (ppm) level, of two-level tunneling systems in solid $^4$He, irrespective of the existence of supersolidity.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Defects and glassy dynamics in solid He-4: Perspectives and current status

We review the anomalous behavior of solid He-4 at low temperatures with particular attention to the role of structural defects present in solid. The discussion centers around the possible role of two level systems and structural glassy components for inducing the observed anomalies. We propose that the origin of glassy behavior is due to the dynamics of defects like dislocations formed in He-4. Within the developed framework of glassy components in a solid, we give a summary of the results and predictions for the effects that cover the mechanical, thermodynamic, viscoelastic, and electro-elastic contributions of the glassy response of solid He-4. Our proposed glass model for solid He-4 has several implications: (1) The anomalous properties of He-4 can be accounted for by allowing defects to freeze out at lowest temperatures. The dynamics of solid He-4 is governed by glasslike (glassy) relaxation processes and the distribution of relaxation times varies significantly between different torsional oscillator, shear modulus, and dielectric function experiments. (2) Any defect freeze-out will be accompanied by thermodynamic signatures consistent with entropy contributions from defects. It follows that such entropy contribution is much smaller than the required superfluid fraction, yet it is sufficient to account for excess entropy at lowest temperatures. (3) We predict a Cole-Cole type relation between the real and imaginary part of the response functions for rotational and planar shear that is occurring due to the dynamics of defects. Similar results apply for other response functions. (4) Using the framework of glassy dynamics, we predict low-frequency yet to be measured electro-elastic features in defect rich He-4 crystals. These predictions allow one to directly test the ideas and very presence of glassy contributions in He-4.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figure

Threshold Electrodisintegration of ^3He

Cross sections were measured for the near-threshold electrodisintegration of ^3He at momentum transfer values of q=2.4, 4.4, and 4.7 fm^{-1}. From these and prior measurements the transverse and longitudinal response functions R_T and R_L were deduced. Comparisons are made against previously published and new non-relativistic A=3 calculations using the best available NN potentials. In general, for q<2 fm^{-1} these calculations accurately predict the threshold electrodisintegration of ^3He. Agreement at increasing q demands consideration of two-body terms, but discrepancies still appear at the highest momentum transfers probed, perhaps due to the neglect of relativistic dynamics, or to the underestimation of high-momentum wave-function components.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, REVTEX4, submitted to Physical Review

Rapid isolation and profiling of a diverse panel of human monoclonal antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Antibodies are a principal determinant of immunity for most RNA viruses and have promise to reduce infection or disease during major epidemics. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic with millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths to date1,2. In response, we used a rapid antibody discovery platform to isolate hundreds of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. We stratify these mAbs into five major classes on the basis of their reactivity to subdomains of S protein as well as their cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV. Many of these mAbs inhibit infection of authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus, with most neutralizing mAbs recognizing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of S. This work defines sites of vulnerability on SARS-CoV-2 S and demonstrates the speed and robustness of advanced antibody discovery platforms