8,211 research outputs found
Sensible heat transfer in the Gemini and Apollo pressure suits
Sensible heat transfer effects in Gemini and Apollo pressure suit
Measuring the cosmic ray acceleration efficiency of a supernova remnant
Cosmic rays are the most energetic particles arriving at earth. Although most
of them are thought to be accelerated by supernova remnants, the details of the
acceleration process and its efficiency are not well determined. Here we show
that the pressure induced by cosmic rays exceeds the thermal pressure behind
the northeast shock of the supernova remnant RCW 86, where the X-ray emission
is dominated by synchrotron radiation from ultra-relativistic electrons. We
determined the cosmic-ray content from the thermal Doppler broadening measured
with optical spectroscopy, combined with a proper-motion study in X- rays. The
measured post-shock proton temperature in combination with the shock velocity
does not agree with standard shock heating, implying that >50% of the
post-shock pressure is produced by cosmic rays.Comment: Published in Science express, 10 pages, 5 figures and 2 table
19F Electron-nuclear double resonance reveals interaction between redox-active tyrosines across the α/β interface of E. coli ribonucleotide reductase
Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyze the reduction of ribonucleotides to deoxyribonucleotides, thereby playing a key role in DNA replication and repair. Escherichia coli class Ia RNR is an α2β2 enzyme complex that uses a reversible multistep radical transfer (RT) over 32 Å across its two subunits, α and β, to initiate, using its metallo-cofactor in β2, nucleotide reduction in α2. Each step is proposed to involve a distinct proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET) process. An unresolved step is the RT involving Y356(β) and Y731(α) across the α/β interface. Using 2,3,5-F3Y122-β2 with 3,5-F2Y731-α2, GDP (substrate) and TTP (allosteric effector), a Y356• intermediate was trapped and its identity was verified by 263 GHz electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and 34 GHz pulse electron–electron double resonance spectroscopies. 94 GHz 19F electron-nuclear double resonance spectroscopy allowed measuring the interspin distances between Y356• and the 19F nuclei of 3,5-F2Y731 in this RNR mutant. Similar experiments with the double mutant E52Q/F3Y122-β2 were carried out for comparison to the recently published cryo-EM structure of a holo RNR complex. For both mutant combinations, the distance measurements reveal two conformations of 3,5-F2Y731. Remarkably, one conformation is consistent with 3,5-F2Y731 within the H-bond distance to Y356•, whereas the second one is consistent with the conformation observed in the cryo-EM structure. The observations unexpectedly suggest the possibility of a colinear PCET, in which electron and proton are transferred from the same donor to the same acceptor between Y356 and Y731. The results highlight the important role of state-of-the-art EPR spectroscopy to decipher this mechanism
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Initial Screening of Thermochemical Water-Splitting Cycles for High Efficiency Generation of Hydrogen Fuels Using Nuclear Power
OAK B188 Initial Screening of Thermochemical Water-Splitting Cycles for High Efficiency Generation of Hydrogen Fuels Using Nuclear Power There is currently no large scale, cost-effective, environmentally attractive hydrogen production process, nor is such a process available for commercialization. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier, which potentially could replace the fossil fuels used in the transportation sector of our economy. Fossil fuels are polluting and carbon dioxide emissions from their combustion are thought to be responsible for global warming. The purpose of this work is to determine the potential for efficient, cost-effective, large-scale production of hydrogen utilizing high temperature heat from an advanced nuclear power station. Almost 800 literature references were located which pertain to thermochemical production of hydrogen from water and over 100 thermochemical watersplitting cycles were examined. Using defined criteria and quantifiable metrics, 25 cycles have been selected for more detailed study
FlashCam: a fully-digital camera for the medium-sized telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The FlashCam group is currently preparing photomultiplier-tube based cameras
proposed for the medium-sized telescopes (MST) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array
(CTA). The cameras are designed around the FlashCam readout concept which is
the first fully-digital readout system for Cherenkov cameras, based on
commercial FADCs and FPGAs as key components for the front-end electronics
modules and a high performance camera server as back-end. This contribution
describes the progress of the full-scale FlashCam camera prototype currently
under construction, as well as performance results also obtained with earlier
demonstrator setups. Plans towards the production and implementation of
FlashCams on site are also briefly presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic
Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions
at arXiv:1508.0589
Performance Verification of the FlashCam Prototype Camera for the Cherenkov Telescope Array
The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a future gamma-ray observatory that is
planned to significantly improve upon the sensitivity and precision of the
current generation of Cherenkov telescopes. The observatory will consist of
several dozens of telescopes with different sizes and equipped with different
types of cameras. Of these, the FlashCam camera system is the first to
implement a fully digital signal processing chain which allows for a traceable,
configurable trigger scheme and flexible signal reconstruction. As of autumn
2016, a prototype FlashCam camera for the medium-sized telescopes of CTA nears
completion. First results of the ongoing system tests demonstrate that the
signal chain and the readout system surpass CTA requirements. The stability of
the system is shown using long-term temperature cycling.Comment: 5 pages, 13 figures, Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on
Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detectors (RICH 2016), Lake Bled, Sloveni
Quantification of arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium in newborn dried blood spots
AbstractExposures to heavy metals during fetal and perinatal development are of particular concern. Yet, the health impacts of exposures to toxic metals during these early stages of human development are not well understood due to the paucity of in vivo human data. Dried blood spots (DBS), collected by public health departments to screen for inherited metabolic errors and other disorders, are routinely archived and can be used for exposure assessment. Here we report an improved method for quantifying arsenic, lead, mercury and cadmium in newborn DBS to facilitate epidemiologic research on the health effects of early exposures to toxic metals
Fitting the Gamma-Ray Spectrum from Dark Matter with DMFIT: GLAST and the Galactic Center Region
We study the potential of GLAST to unveil particle dark matter properties
with gamma-ray observations of the Galactic center region. We present full
GLAST simulations including all gamma-ray sources known to date in a region of
4 degrees around the Galactic center, in addition to the diffuse gamma-ray
background and to the dark matter signal. We introduce DMFIT, a tool that
allows one to fit gamma-ray emission from pair-annihilation of generic particle
dark matter models and to extract information on the mass, normalization and
annihilation branching ratios into Standard Model final states. We assess the
impact and systematic effects of background modeling and theoretical priors on
the reconstruction of dark matter particle properties. Our detailed simulations
demonstrate that for some well motivated supersymmetric dark matter setups with
one year of GLAST data it will be possible not only to significantly detect a
dark matter signal over background, but also to estimate the dark matter mass
and its dominant pair-annihilation mode.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JCA
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