1,401 research outputs found
Studies on the degradation of starch
Differential thermal analysis was carried out on starches from several
different botanical sources, and of their component amylose and amylopectin,
and the thermograms compared. It was found that the presence of "inert"
materials such as alumina profoundly affected the thermograms or starch.
All analyses had therefore to be carried out without the addition of any
"inert" material. Factors affecting the starch thermograms, such as the
physical structure of the granule and percentage amylose content, were
investigated. It was noted that thermograms similar to those of starch were
obtained from the oligomer series Gā to Gā, where thermal stability of these
oligomers was found to increase with increase in their chainlength.The pyrolysis over a temperature range of 220 to 300Ā°C of the oligomer
series,Gā to Gā, Ć-Schardinger dextrin, potato starch and its components
amylose and amylopectin, retrograded amylose, and dextran was studied. The
amounts of the various products from each substance at the different temperatures
were compared.Rates of production of the major volatiles, i.e. carbon monoxide, carbon
dioxide and water, from each of the compounds were measured at the various
temperatures, and activation energies for the degradation calculated. The
natures of the residues and 'syrup' fractions were investigated. The
influence on the thermal breakdown of temperature, molecular size and type
of glycosidic linkage were studied. The significance of these results is
discussed and possible modes of degradation are suggested
Development of a Contingency Capillary Wastewater Management Device
The Personal Body .Attached Liquid Liquidator (PBALL) is conceived as a passive, capillary driven contingency wastewater disposal device. In this contingency scenario, the airflow system on the NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is assumed to have failed, leaving only passive hardware and vacuum vent to dispose of the wastewater. To meet these needs, the PBALL was conceived to rely on capillary action and urine wetting design considerations. The PBALL is designed to accommodate a range of wetting conditions, from 0deg < (theta)adv approx. 90deg, be adaptable for both male and female use, collect and retain up to a liter of urine, minimize splash-back, and allow continuous drain of the wastewater to vacuum while minimizing cabin air loss. A sub-scale PBALL test article was demonstrated on NASA's reduced gravity aircraft in April, 2010
Dramatic robustness of a multiple delay dispersed interferometer to spectrograph errors: how mixing delays reduces or cancels wavelength drift
We describe demonstrations of remarkable robustness to instrumental noises by using a multiple delay externally dispersed interferometer (EDI) on stellar observations at the Hale telescope. Previous observatory EDI demonstrations used a single delay. The EDI (also called āTEDIā) boosted the 2,700 resolution of the native TripleSpec NIR spectrograph (950-2450 nm) by as much as 10x to 27,000, using 7 overlapping delays up to 3 cm. We observed superb rejection of fixed pattern noises due to bad pixels, since the fringing signal responds only to changes in multiple exposures synchronous to the applied delay dithering. Remarkably, we observed a ~20x reduction of reaction in the output spectrum to PSF shifts of the native spectrograph along the dispersion direction, using our standard processing. This allowed high resolution observations under conditions of severe and irregular PSF drift otherwise not possible without the interferometer. Furthermore, we recently discovered an improved method of weighting and mixing data between pairs of delays that can theoretically further reduce the net reaction to PSF drift to zero. We demonstrate a 350x reduction in reaction to a native PSF shift using a simple simulation. This technique could similarly reduce radial velocity noise for future EDIās that use two delays overlapped in delay space (or a single delay overlapping the native peak). Finally, we show an extremely high dynamic range EDI measurement of our ThAr lamp compared to a literature ThAr spectrum, observing weak features (~0.001x height of nearest strong line) that occur between the major lines. Because of individuality of each reference lamp, accurate knowledge of its spectrum between the (unfortunately) sparse major lines is important for precision radial velocimetry
Magnetic field tuning of coplanar waveguide resonators
We describe measurements on microwave coplanar resonators designed for
quantum bit experiments. Resonators have been patterned onto sapphire and
silicon substrates, and quality factors in excess of a million have been
observed. The resonant frequency shows a high sensitivity to magnetic field
applied perpendicular to the plane of the film, with a quadratic dependence for
the fundamental, second and third harmonics. Frequency shift of hundreds of
linewidths can be obtained.Comment: Accepted for publication in AP
Long-term, multiwavelength light curves of ultra-cool dwarfs: II. The evolving light curves of the T2. 5 SIMP 0136 & the uncorrelated light curves of the M9 TVLM 513
We present multiwavelength, multi-telescope, ground-based follow-up photometry of the white dwarf WD 1145+017, that has recently been suggested to be orbited by up to six or more, short-period, low- mass, disintegrating planetesimals. We detect 9 significant dips in flux of between 10% and 30% of the stellar flux from our ground-based photometry. We observe transits deeper than 10% on average every ā¼3.6 hr in our photometry. This suggests that WD 1145+017 is indeed being orbited by multiple, short-period objects. Through fits to the multiple asymmetric transits that we observe, we confirm that the transit egress timescale is usually longer than the ingress timescale, and that the transit duration is longer than expected for a solid body at these short periods, all suggesting that these objects have cometary tails streaming behind them. The precise orbital periods of the planetesimals in this system are unclear from the transit-times, but at least one object, and likely more, have orbital periods of ā¼4.5 hours. We are otherwise unable to confirm the specific periods that have been reported, bringing into question the long-term stability of these periods. Our high precision photometry also displays low amplitude variations suggesting that dusty material is consistently passing in front of the white dwarf, either from discarded material from these disintegrating planetesimals or from the detected dusty debris disk. For the significant transits we observe, we compare the transit depths in the V- and R-bands of our multiwavelength photometry, and find no significant difference; therefore, for likely compositions the radius of single-size particles in the cometary tails streaming behind the planetesimals in this system must be ā¼0.15 Ī¼m or larger, or ā¼0.06 Ī¼m or smaller, with 2Ļ confidence
On the properties of superconducting planar resonators at mK temperatures
Planar superconducting resonators are now being increasingly used at mK
temperatures in a number of novel applications. They are also interesting
devices in their own right since they allow us to probe the properties of both
the superconductor and its environment. We have experimentally investigated
three types of niobium resonators - including a lumped element design -
fabricated on sapphire and SiO_2/Si substrates. They all exhibit a non-trivial
temperature dependence of their centre frequency and quality factor. Our
results shed new light on the interaction between the electromagnetic waves in
the resonator and two-level fluctuators in the substrate.Comment: V2 includes some minor corrections/changes. Submitted to PR
Carbon ordering in an aseismic shear zone : implications for Raman geothermometry and strain tracking
Acknowledgements: This study was carried out as part of a University of Aberdeen PhD, supported by the NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) Centre for Doctoral Training in Oil & Gas [grant number 316 NE/R01051X/1].Peer reviewedPostprin
Regulation of Calmodulin- and Dopamine-Stimulated Adenylate Cyclase Activities by Light in Bovine Retina
Neural retina from most species contains 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine (dopamine) receptors coupled to stimulation of adenylate cyclase activity. It has been demonstrated that release of dopamine from its neurons and subsequent occupation of dopamine receptors is increased by light. In this study, we have shown that adenylate cyclase activity in bovine retina is highly responsive to the endogenous Ca 2+ -binding protein, cal-modulin, and that calmodulin can increase dopamine-sen-sitive adenylate cyclase activity in bovine retina. We further demonstrate that both dopamine- and calmodulin-stimulated adenylate cyclase activities can be regulated by alterations in light. Bovine retinas were dissected from the eye under a low-intensity red safety light, defined as dark conditions, and incubated for 20 min in an oxygenated Krebs Henseleit buffer under either dark or light conditions. The retinas were then homogenized and adenylate cyclase activity measured in a paniculate fraction washed to deplete it of endogenous Ca 2+ and calmodulin. Activation of adenylate cyclase activity by calmodulin, dopamine, and the nonhydrolyzable GTP analog, gua-nosine-5ā²-(Ī,Ī-imido)triphosphate (GppNHp), was significantly (60%) greater in paniculate fractions from retinas that had been incubated under dark conditions as compared to those incubated under light conditions. Basal, Mn 2+ -, and GTP-stimulated adenylate cyclase activities were not altered by changes in lighting conditions. Calmodulin could increase the maximum stimulation of adenylate cyclase by dopamine in retinas incubated under either dark or light conditions, but the degree of its effect was greater in retinas incubated under light conditions. Activation of adenylate cyclase by calmodulin, dopamine, and GppNHp in paniculate fractions from retinas incubated under light conditions was indistinguishable from the activation obtained when retinas were incubated in the dark in the presence of exogenous dopamine. These results suggest that an increased release of dopamine occurs in light. The decreased response of adenylate cyclase to exogenous dopamine can then be explained by a subsequent down-regulation of dopamine receptor activity. The down-regulation of dopamine receptor activity can also regulate activation of adenylate cyclase by GppNHp and calmodulin. The results suggest that dopamine, calmodulin, and GppNHp are modulators of a common component of adenylate cyclase activity, and this component is regulated by light.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66410/1/j.1471-4159.1984.tb12753.x.pd
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