5,407 research outputs found
Submicrosecond time transfer between the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia via satellite
During 1972 time transfer experiments were run between the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Royal Greenwich Observatory and, in 1973, between the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Division of National Mapping in Canberra, Australia. In both cases the time transfer agent was the TIMATION 2 satellite, 1969-82B. The satellite ephemerides were computed from data provided by the Defense Mapping Agency TRANET. This net tracked the satellite's Doppler transmissions. The phase of the satellite clock was determined from knowledge of the position of the satellite and of the observer and the computed distance between the two. By monitoring the clock on successive passes the rate of the satellite clock was determined at Washington. By again monitoring the satellite clock at the distant station the satellite clock could be compared to the local clock and this local clock compared to the U.S. Naval Observatory clocks. In 1972 the RMS of observations at Greenwich deviated by approximately 1/4 microsecond from a straight line when compared to the Naval Observatory. In 1973 the observation errors at Canberra were approximately half as great
Thirty Years of Turnstiles and Transport
To characterize transport in a deterministic dynamical system is to compute
exit time distributions from regions or transition time distributions between
regions in phase space. This paper surveys the considerable progress on this
problem over the past thirty years. Primary measures of transport for
volume-preserving maps include the exiting and incoming fluxes to a region. For
area-preserving maps, transport is impeded by curves formed from invariant
manifolds that form partial barriers, e.g., stable and unstable manifolds
bounding a resonance zone or cantori, the remnants of destroyed invariant tori.
When the map is exact volume preserving, a Lagrangian differential form can be
used to reduce the computation of fluxes to finding a difference between the
action of certain key orbits, such as homoclinic orbits to a saddle or to a
cantorus. Given a partition of phase space into regions bounded by partial
barriers, a Markov tree model of transport explains key observations, such as
the algebraic decay of exit and recurrence distributions.Comment: Updated and corrected versio
Heteroclinic intersections between Invariant Circles of Volume-Preserving Maps
We develop a Melnikov method for volume-preserving maps with codimension one
invariant manifolds. The Melnikov function is shown to be related to the flux
of the perturbation through the unperturbed invariant surface. As an example,
we compute the Melnikov function for a perturbation of a three-dimensional map
that has a heteroclinic connection between a pair of invariant circles. The
intersection curves of the manifolds are shown to undergo bifurcations in
homologyComment: LaTex with 10 eps figure
A 2.75-Approximation Algorithm for the Unconstrained Traveling Tournament Problem
A 2.75-approximation algorithm is proposed for the unconstrained traveling
tournament problem, which is a variant of the traveling tournament problem. For
the unconstrained traveling tournament problem, this is the first proposal of
an approximation algorithm with a constant approximation ratio. In addition,
the proposed algorithm yields a solution that meets both the no-repeater and
mirrored constraints. Computational experiments show that the algorithm
generates solutions of good quality.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
Resonance Zones and Lobe Volumes for Volume-Preserving Maps
We study exact, volume-preserving diffeomorphisms that have heteroclinic
connections between a pair of normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds. We
develop a general theory of lobes, showing that the lobe volume is given by an
integral of a generating form over the primary intersection, a subset of the
heteroclinic orbits. Our definition reproduces the classical action formula in
the planar, twist map case. For perturbations from a heteroclinic connection,
the lobe volume is shown to reduce, to lowest order, to a suitable integral of
a Melnikov function.Comment: ams laTeX, 8 figure
Structure and Metal Binding Properties of ZnuA, a Periplasmic Zinc Transporter from \u3cem\u3eEscherichia coli\u3c/em\u3e
ZnuA is the periplasmic Zn2+-binding protein associated with the high-affinity ATP-binding cassette ZnuABC transporter from Escherichia coli. Although several structures of ZnuA and its homologs have been determined, details regarding metal ion stoichiometry, affinity, and specificity as well as the mechanism of metal uptake and transfer remain unclear. The crystal structures of E. coli ZnuA (Eco-ZnuA) in the apo, Zn2+-bound, and Co2+-bound forms have been determined. ZnZnuA binds at least two metal ions. The first, observed previously in other structures, is coordinated tetrahedrally by Glu59, His60, His143, and His207. Replacement of Zn2+ with Co2+ results in almost identical coordination geometry at this site. The second metal binding site involves His224 and several yet to be identified residues from the His-rich loop that is unique to Zn2+ periplasmic metal binding receptors. Electron paramagnetic resonance and X-ray absorption spectroscopic data on CoZnuA provide additional insight into possible residues involved in this second site. The second site is also detected by metal analysis and circular dichroism (CD) titrations. Eco-ZnuA binds Zn2+ (estimated K d \u3c 20 nM), Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Cu+, and Cd2+, but not Mn2+. Finally, conformational changes upon metal binding observed in the crystal structures together with fluorescence and CD data indicate that only Zn2+ substantially stabilizes ZnuA and might facilitate recognition of ZnuB and subsequent metal transfer
Identification of a small molecule inhibitor of Ebolavirus genome replication and transcription using in silico screening.
Ebola virus (EBOV) causes a severe haemorrhagic fever in humans and has a mortality rate over 50%. With no licensed drug treatments available, EBOV poses a significant threat. Investigations into possible therapeutics have been severely hampered by the classification of EBOV as a BSL4 pathogen. Here, we describe a drug discovery pathway combining in silico screening of compounds predicted to bind to a hydrophobic pocket on the nucleoprotein (NP); with a robust and rapid EBOV minigenome assay for inhibitor validation at BSL2. One compound (MCCB4) was efficacious (EC50 4.8 μM), exhibited low cytotoxicity (CC50 > 100 μM) and was specific, with no effect on either a T7 RNA polymerase driven firefly luciferase or a Bunyamwera virus minigenome. Further investigations revealed that this small molecule inhibitor was able to outcompete established replication complexes, an essential aspect for a potential EBOV treatment
Canonical Melnikov theory for diffeomorphisms
We study perturbations of diffeomorphisms that have a saddle connection
between a pair of normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds. We develop a
first-order deformation calculus for invariant manifolds and show that a
generalized Melnikov function or Melnikov displacement can be written in a
canonical way. This function is defined to be a section of the normal bundle of
the saddle connection.
We show how our definition reproduces the classical methods of Poincar\'{e}
and Melnikov and specializes to methods previously used for exact symplectic
and volume-preserving maps. We use the method to detect the transverse
intersection of stable and unstable manifolds and relate this intersection to
the set of zeros of the Melnikov displacement.Comment: laTeX, 31 pages, 3 figure
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