761 research outputs found
How Low Can You Go? Feature Selection for Drug Discovery
The cost of bringing a drug to market depends on how quickly a candidate drug can be âdiscoveredâ and evaluated to ensure safety and effectiveness. In this work we develop a method for predicting whether a given drug and protein compound will âbind.â Our aim is to select a set of features to predict drug-protein interactions.
This study focuses on kinases. Kinase inhibitors are the largest class of new cancer therapies. Selective inhibition is difficult due to high sequence similarity, leading to off-target interactions and side-effects. Pictured here human c-SRC
A Linearization Beam-Hardening Correction Method for X-Ray Computed Tomographic Imaging of Structural Ceramics
Computed tomographic (CT) imaging with both monochromatic and polychromatic x-ray sources can be a powerful NDE method for characterization (e. g., measurement of density gradients) as well as flaw detection (e. g., detection of cracks, voids, inclusions) in ceramics. However, the use of polychromatic x-ray sources can cause image artifacts and overall image degradation through beam hardening (BH) effects [1]. Beam hardening occurs because (i) x-ray attenuation in a given material is energy dependent and (ii) data collection in CT systems is not energy selective. Without an appropriate correction, the BH effect prevents the establishment of an absolute scale for density measurement. Thus, quantitative density comparisons between samples of the same material but of different geometrical shape becomes unreliable [2]
Digital Receiver for Microwave Radiometry
A receiver proposed for use in L-band microwave radiometry (for measuring soil moisture and sea salinity) would utilize digital signal processing to suppress interfering signals. Heretofore, radio frequency interference has made it necessary to limit such radiometry to a frequency band about 20 MHz wide, centered at .1,413 MHz. The suppression of interference in the proposed receiver would make it possible to expand the frequency band to a width of 100 MHz, thereby making it possible to obtain greater sensitivity and accuracy in measuring moisture and salinit
Characterization of Melt Infiltrated SiC/SiC Composite Combustor Liners Using Meso- and Micro-NDE Techniques
Melt-infiltrated ceramic matrix composite SiC/SiC material systems are under development for use in combustor liners for low-emission advanced gas turbines. Uncertainty in repeatability of processing methods for these large components (33--76 cm diameter), and hence possible reduced reliability for the end user. This requires that appropriate test methods, at both meso- and micro-scale, be used to ensure that the liners are acceptable for use. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) methods, if demonstrated to reliably detect changes caused by processing, would be of significant benefit to both manufacturer and end user. This paper describes the NDE methods and their applications in detecting a process upset in a melt-infiltrated 33 cm combustor liner and how high-resolution scanning electron microscopy was used to verify the NDE data
GBTrans: A commensal search for radio pulses with the Green Bank twenty metre telescope
We describe GBTrans, a real-time search system designed to find fast radio
bursts (FRBs) using the 20-m radio telescope at the Green Bank Observatory. The
telescope has been part of the Skynet educational program since 2015. We give
details of the observing system and report on the non-detection of FRBs from a
total observing time of 503 days. Single pulses from four known pulsars were
detected as part of the commensal observing. The system is sensitive enough to
detect approximately half of all currently known FRBs and we estimate that our
survey probed redshifts out to about 0.3 corresponding to an effective survey
volume of around 124,000~Mpc. Modeling the FRB rate as a function of
fluence, , as a power law with , we constrain the index at the 90% confidence level. We discuss the implications of this result
in the context of constraints from other FRB surveys.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Multiwavelength Mass Comparisons of the z~0.3 CNOC Cluster Sample
Results are presented from a detailed analysis of optical and X-ray
observations of moderate-redshift galaxy clusters from the Canadian Network for
Observational Cosmology (CNOC) subsample of the EMSS. The combination of
extensive optical and deep X-ray observations of these clusters make them ideal
candidates for multiwavelength mass comparison studies. X-ray surface
brightness profiles of 14 clusters with 0.17<z<0.55 are constructed from
Chandra observations and fit to single and double beta-models. Spatially
resolved temperature analysis is performed, indicating that five of the
clusters in this sample exhibit temperature gradients within their inner 60-200
kpc. Integrated spectra extracted within R_2500 provide temperature, abundance,
and luminosity information. Under assumptions of hydrostatic equilibrium and
spherical symmetry, we derive gas and total masses within R_2500 and R_200. We
find an average gas mass fraction within R_200 of 0.136 +/- 0.004, resulting in
Omega_m=0.28 +/- 0.01 (formal error). We also derive dynamical masses for these
clusters to R_200. We find no systematic bias between X-ray and dynamical
methods across the sample, with an average M(dyn)/M(X-ray) = 0.97 +/- 0.05. We
also compare X-ray masses to weak lensing mass estimates of a subset of our
sample, resulting in a weighted average of M(lens)/M(X-ray) of 0.99 +/- 0.07.
We investigate X-ray scaling relationships and find powerlaw slopes which are
slightly steeper than the predictions of self-similar models, with an E(z)^(-1)
Lx-Tx slope of 2.4 +/- 0.2 and an E(z) M_2500-Tx slope of 1.7 +/- 0.1.
Relationships between red-sequence optical richness (B_gc,red) and global
cluster X-ray properties (Tx, Lx and M_2500) are also examined and fitted.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, 48 pages, 11 figures, LaTeX. Added correction
to surface brightness normalization of MS1512.4+3647, corrections to sample
gas mass fractions and calculated value of Omega_m. Figure resolution has
been reduced to comply with astro-ph upload requirement
Quantitative MRI Measurement of Binder Distributions in Green-State Ceramics
Development of reliable and improved structural ceramics for advanced heat engines and other applications requires process diagnostics and materials evaluation from powder preparation to green-body forming to final sintering. Injection molding is a promising processing method being developed for mass production of complex-shaped heat engine components such as turbochargers (rotors and stator vanes) and engine valves. Major processing steps in injection-molded ceramic manufacturing include preparation of ceramic powders and organic binders, mixing, molding, binder removal, sintering, and finishing [1]. While materials evaluation and diagnostics are needed throughout the process, it is particularly important to evaluate the distributions of binders/plasticizers in as-molded green bodies [2]. Poor distribution of these organics in a green body can lead to a final part that is defective or that has poor mechanical properties after it is sintered
Star Formation in Cluster Galaxies at 0.2<z<0.55
The rest frame equivalent width of the [OII]3727 emission line, W(OII), has
been measured for cluster and field galaxies in the CNOC redshift survey of
rich clusters at 0.2<z<0.55. Emission lines of any strength in cluster galaxies
at all distances from the cluster centre, out to 2R_{200}, are less common than
in field galaxies. The mean W(OII) in cluster galaxies more luminous than
M_r^k<-18.5 + 5\log h (q_o=0.1) is 3.8 \pm 0.3 A (where the uncertainty is the
1 sigma error in the mean), significantly less than the field galaxy mean of
11.2 \pm 0.3 A. For the innermost cluster members (R<0.3R_{200}), the mean
W(OII) is only 0.3 \pm 0.4 A. Thus, it appears that neither the infall process
nor internal tides in the cluster induce detectable excess star formation in
cluster galaxies relative to the field. The colour-radius relation of the
sample is unable to fully account for the lack of cluster galaxies with
W(OII)>10 A, as expected in a model of cluster formation in which star
formation is truncated upon infall. Evidence of supressed star formation
relative to the field is present in the whole cluster sample, out to 2 R_{200},
so the mechanism responsible for the differential evolution must be acting at a
large distance from the cluster centre, and not just in the core. The mean star
formation rate in the cluster galaxies with the strongest emission corresponds
to an increase in the total stellar mass of less than about 4% if the star
formation is due to a secondary burst lasting 0.1 Gyr.Comment: aasms4 latex, 3 postscript figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Letters. Also available at http://astrowww.phys.uvic.ca/~balogh
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