24,575 research outputs found
Clementine Observations of the Zodiacal Light and the Dust Content of the Inner Solar System
Using the Moon to occult the Sun, the Clementine spacecraft used its
navigation cameras to map the inner zodiacal light at optical wavelengths over
elongations of 3-30 degrees from the Sun. This surface brightness map is then
used to infer the spatial distribution of interplanetary dust over heliocentric
distances of about 10 solar radii to the orbit of Venus. We also apply a simple
model that attributes the zodiacal light as being due to three dust populations
having distinct inclination distributions, namely, dust from asteroids and
Jupiter-family comets (JFCs), dust from Halley-type comets, and an isotropic
cloud of dust from Oort Cloud comets. The best-fitting scenario indicates that
asteroids + JFCs are the source of about 45% of the optical dust cross-section
seen in the ecliptic at 1 AU, but that at least 89% of the dust cross-section
enclosed by a 1 AU radius sphere is of a cometary origin. When these results
are extrapolated out to the asteroid belt, we find an upper limit on the mass
of the light-reflecting asteroidal dust that is equivalent to a 12 km asteroid,
and a similar extrapolation of the isotropic dust cloud out to Oort Cloud
distances yields a mass equivalent to a 30 km comet, although the latter mass
is uncertain by orders of magnitude.Comment: To be published in Icaru
Identification of a novel retroviral gene unique to human immunodeficiency virus type 2 and simian immunodeficiency virus SIVMAC
Human and simian immunodeficiency-associated retroviruses are extraordinarily complex, containing at least five genes, tat, art, sor, R, and 3' orf, in addition to the structural genes gag, pol, and env. Recently, nucleotide sequence analysis of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) and simian immunodeficiency virus SIVMAC revealed the existence of still another open reading frame, termed X, which is highly conserved between these two viruses but absent from HIV-1. In this report, we demonstrate for the first time that the X open reading frame represents a functional retroviral gene in both HIV-2 and SIVMAC and that it encodes a virion-associated protein of 14 and 12 kilodaltons, respectively. We also describe the production of recombinant TrpE/X fusion proteins in Escherichia coli and show that sera from some HIV-2-infected individuals specifically recognize these proteins
First-principles study of the optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic absorber layer efficiency of Cu-based chalcogenides
Cu-based chalcogenides are promising materials for thin-film solar cells with
more than 20% measured cell efficiency. Using first-principles calculations
based on density functional theory, the optoelectronic properties of a group of
Cu-based chalcogenides Cu-II-IV-VI is studied. They are then screened
with the aim of identifying potential absorber materials for photovoltaic
applications. The spectroscopic limited maximum efficiency (SLME) introduced by
Yu and Zunger is used as a metric for the screening. After constructing the
current-voltage curve, the maximum spectroscopy dependent power conversion
efficiency is calculated from the maximum power output. The role of the nature
of the band gap, direct or indirect, and also of the absorptivity of the
studied materials on the maximum theoretical power conversion efficiency is
studied. Our results show that Cu-II-GeSe with II=Cd and Hg, and
Cu-II-SnS with II=Cd and Zn have a higher theoretical efficiency
compared to the materials currently used as absorber layer
Discovery of the VHE gamma-ray source HESS J1641-463
A new TeV source, HESS J1641-463, has been serendipitously discovered in the
Galactic plane by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) at a
significance level of 8.6 standard deviations. The observations of HESS
J1641-463 were performed between 2004 and 2011 and the source has a moderate
flux level of 1.7% of the Crab Nebula flux at E > 1 TeV. HESS J1641-463 has a
rather hard photon index of 1.99 +- 0.13_stat +- 0.20_sys. HESS J1641-463 is
positionally coincident with the radio supernova remnant SNR G338.5+0.1, but no
clear X-ray counterpart has been found in archival Chandra observations of the
region. Different possible VHE production scenarios will be discussed in this
contribution.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C12102
Ectoine can enhance structural changes in DNA in vitro
Strand breaks and conformational changes of DNA have consequences for the
physiological role of DNA. The natural protecting molecule ectoine is
beneficial to entire bacterial cells and biomolecules such as proteins by
mitigating detrimental effects of environmental stresses. It was postulated
that ectoine-like molecules bind to negatively charged spheres that mimic DNA
surfaces. We investigated the effect of ectoine on DNA and whether ectoine is
able to protect DNA from damages caused by ultraviolet radiation (UV-A). In
order to determine different isoforms of DNA, agarose gel electrophoresis and
atomic force microscopy experiments were carried out with plasmid pUC19 DNA.
Our quantitative results revealed that a prolonged incubation of DNA with
ectoine leads to an increase in transitions from supercoiled (undamaged) to
open circular (single-strand break) conformation at pH 6.6. The effect is pH
dependent and no significant changes were observed at physiological pH of 7.5.
After UV-A irradiation in ectoine solution, changes in DNA conformation were
even more pronounced and this effect was pH dependent. We hypothesize that
ectoine is attracted to the negatively charge surface of DNA at lower pH and
therefore fails to act as a stabilizing agent for DNA in our in vitro
experiments
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