3,045 research outputs found
Designer Reagents for Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics: Clickable Cross-Linkers for Elucidation of Protein Structures and Interactions
We present novel homobifunctional amine-reactive clickable cross-linkers (CXLs) for investigation of three-dimensional protein structures and proteinâprotein interactions (PPIs). CXLs afford consolidated advantages not previously available in a simple cross-linker, including (1) their small size and cationic nature at physiological pH, resulting in good water solubility and cell-permeability, (2) an alkyne group for bio-orthogonal conjugation to affinity tags via the click reaction for enrichment of cross-linked peptides, (3) a nucleophilic displacement reaction involving the 1,2,3-triazole ring formed in the click reaction, yielding a lock-mass reporter ion for only clicked peptides, and (4) higher charge states of cross-linked peptides in the gas-phase for augmented electron transfer dissociation (ETD) yields. Ubiquitin, a lysine-abundant protein, is used as a model system to demonstrate structural studies using CXLs. To validate the sensitivity of our approach, biotin-azide labeling and subsequent enrichment of cross-linked peptides are performed for cross-linked ubiquitin digests mixed with yeast cell lysates. Cross-linked peptides are detected and identified by collision induced dissociation (CID) and ETD with linear quadrupole ion trap (LTQ)-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) and LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometers. The application of CXLs to more complex systems (e.g., in vivo cross-linking) is illustrated by Western blot detection of Cul1 complexes including known binders, Cand1 and Skp2, in HEK 293 cells, confirming good water solubility and cell-permeability
Estimating evaporation from a wet grassland
International audienceWet grasslands are being restored across the UK and Europe to reinstate their high biodiversity following over 50 years of drainage and conversion to arable agriculture. The water balance of many wet grasslands is dominated by precipitation and evaporation and it is essential to quantify evaporation rates to understand the hydrological functioning of wetlands and the implications for water resources in catchments where wetlands are being restored. This paper considers data from direct measurements of evaporation from the Pevensey Levels wet grassland using the eddy correlation method. Equations are derived to predict actual evaporation using meteorological data on the site or from standard meteorological station observations. It was found that evaporation could be estimated reliably from meteorological variables, such as wind speed, temperature and humidity and by water availability. It was also found that when water availability is high, evaporation is high and may exceed reference evaporation values, raising questions over the deployment of the two-step Penman-Monteith model unless reliable crop coefficients and relative evaporation figures can be determined
The AMSC mobile satellite system
The American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC) Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) system is described. AMSC will use three multi-beam satellites to provide L-band MSS coverage to the United States, Canada and Mexico. The AMSC MSS system will have several noteworthy features, including a priority assignment processor that will ensure preemptive access to emergency services, a flexible SCPC channel scheme that will support a wide diversity of services, enlarged system capacity through frequency and orbit reuse, and high effective satellite transmitted power. Each AMSC satellite will make use of 14 MHz (bi-directional) of L-band spectrum. The Ku-band will be used for feeder links
Mobile satellite service in the United States
Mobile satellite service (MSS) has been under development in the United States for more than two decades. The service will soon be provided on a commercial basis by a consortium of eight U.S. companies called the American Mobile Satellite Consortium (AMSC). AMSC will build a three-satellite MSS system that will offer superior performance, reliability and cost effectiveness for organizations requiring mobile communications across the U.S. The development and operation of MSS in North America is being coordinated with Telesat Canada and Mexico. AMSC expects NASA to provide launch services in exchange for capacity on the first AMSC satellite for MSAT-X activities and for government demonstrations
G_2 Perfect-Fluid Cosmologies with a proper conformal Killing vector
We study the Einstein field equations for spacetimes admitting a maximal
two-dimensional abelian group of isometries acting orthogonally transitively on
spacelike surfaces and, in addition, with at least one conformal Killing
vector. The three-dimensional conformal group is restricted to the case when
the two-dimensional abelian isometry subalgebra is an ideal and it is also
assumed to act on non-null hypersurfaces (both, spacelike and timelike cases
are studied). We consider both, diagonal and non-diagonal metrics and find all
the perfect-fluid solutions under these assumptions (except those already
known). We find four families of solutions, each one containing arbitrary
parameters for which no differential equations remain to be integrated. We
write the line-elements in a simplified form and perform a detailed study for
each of these solutions, giving the kinematical quantities of the fluid
velocity vector, the energy-density and pressure, values of the parameters for
which the energy conditions are fulfilled everywhere, the Petrov type, the
singularities in the spacetimes and the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker
metrics contained in each family.Comment: Latex, no figure
G_2 cosmological models separable in non-comoving coordinates
We study new separable orthogonally transitive abelian G_2 on S_2 models with
two mutually orthogonal integrable Killing vector fields. For this purpose we
consider separability of the metric functions in a coordinate system in which
the velocity vector field of the perfect fluid does not take its canonical
form, providing thereby solutions which are non-separable in comoving
coordinates in general. Some interesting general features concerning this class
of solutions are given. We provide a full classification for these models and
present several families of explicit solutions with their properties.Comment: latex, 26 pages, accepted for publication in Class. Quantum Gra
Distributional Modes for Scalar Field Quantization
We propose a mode-sum formalism for the quantization of the scalar field
based on distributional modes, which are naturally associated with a slight
modification of the standard plane-wave modes. We show that this formalism
leads to the standard Rindler temperature result, and that these modes can be
canonically defined on any Cauchy surface.Comment: 15 pages, RevTe
Tidal Response of Mars Constrained From Laboratory-Based Viscoelastic Dissipation Models and Geophysical Data
We employ laboratory-based grain-size- and temperature-sensitive rheological models to
16 describe the viscoelastic behavior of terrestrial bodies with focus on Mars. Shear modulus
17 reduction and attenuation related to viscoelastic relaxation occur as a result of diffusion-
18 and dislocation-related creep and grain-boundary processes. We consider five rheological
19 models, including extended Burgers, Andrade, Sundberg-Cooper, a power-law approxima-
20 tion, and Maxwell, and determine Martian tidal response. However, the question of which
21 model provides the most appropriate description of dissipation in planetary bodies, re-
22 mains an open issue. To examine this, crust and mantle models (density and elasticity) are
23 computed self-consistently through phase equilibrium calculations as a function of pres-
24 sure, temperature, and bulk composition, whereas core properties are based on an Fe-FeS
25 parameterisation. We assess the compatibility of the viscoelastic models by inverting the
26 available geophysical data for Mars (tidal response and mean density and moment of in-
27 ertia) for temperature, elastic, and attenuation structure. Our results show that although
28 all viscoelastic models are consistent with data, their predictions for the tidal response at
29 other periods and harmonic degrees are distinct. The results also show that Maxwell is
30 only capable of fitting data for unrealistically low viscosities. Our approach can be used
31 quantitatively to distinguish between the viscoelastic models from seismic and/or tidal ob-
32 servations that will allow for improved constraints on interior structure (e.g., with InSight).
33 Finally, the methodology presented here is generally formulated and applicable to other so-
34 lar and extra-solar system bodies where the study of tidal dissipation presents an important
35 means for determining interior structure
Renewing Criminalized and Hegemonic Cultural Landscapes
The Mafia's long historical pedigree in Mezzogiorno, Southern Italy, has empowered the Mafioso as a notorious, uncontested, and hegemonic figure. The counter-cultural resistance against the mafiosi culture began to be institutionalized in the early 1990s. Today, Libera Terra is the largest civil society organization in the country that uses the lands confiscated from the Mafia as a space of cultural repertoire to realize its ideals. Deploying labor force through volunteer participation, producing biological fruits and vegetables, and providing information to the students on the fields are the principal cultural practices of this struggle. The confiscated lands make the Italian experience of anti-Mafia resistance a unique example by connecting the land with the ideals of cultural change. The sociocultural resistance of Libera Terra conveys a political message through these practices and utters that the Mafia is not invincible. This study draws the complex panorama of the Mafia and anti-Mafia movement that uses the âconfiscated landsâ as cultural and public spaces for resistance and socio-cultural change. In doing so, this article sheds new light on the relationship between rural criminology and crime prevention policies in Southern Italy by demonstrating how community development practice of Libera Terra changes the meaning of landscape through iconographic symbolism and ethnographic performance
- âŠ