114,428 research outputs found
Docking mechanism for spacecraft
A system is presented for docking a space vehicle to a space station where a connecting tunnel for in-flight transfer of personnel is required. Cooperable coupling mechanisms include docking rings on the space vehicle and space station. The space station is provided with a tunnel structure, a retraction mechanism, and a docking ring. The vehicle coupling mechanism is designed to capture the station coupling mechanism, arrest relative spacecraft motions while limiting loads to acceptable levels, and then realign the spacecraft for final docking and tunnel interconnection. The docking ring of the space vehicle coupling mechanism is supported by linear attentuator actuator devices, each of which is controlled by a control system which receives loading information signals and attenuator stroke information signals from each device and supplies output signals for controlling its linear actuation to attenuate impact loading or to realign the spacecraft for final docking and tunnel interconnection. The retraction mechanism is used to draw the spacecraft together after initial contact and coupling. Tunnel trunnions, cooperative with the latches on the space vehicle constitute the primary structural tie between the spacecraft in final docked configuration
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The Climate Imperative and Innovative Behavior: Encouraging Greater Advances in the Production of Energy-Efficient Technologies and Services
This white paper examines why a larger array of innovative institutions, behaviors, technologies, and servicesis needed – specifically in the context of what we call “the climate imperative.” We explore possible mechanisms that can encourage the more robust development of innovative programs and policies within the State of California, with special attention to the activities of the California Public Utilities Commission
Towards synthetic biological approaches to resource utilization on space missions.
This paper demonstrates the significant utility of deploying non-traditional biological techniques to harness available volatiles and waste resources on manned missions to explore the Moon and Mars. Compared with anticipated non-biological approaches, it is determined that for 916 day Martian missions: 205 days of high-quality methane and oxygen Mars bioproduction with Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum can reduce the mass of a Martian fuel-manufacture plant by 56%; 496 days of biomass generation with Arthrospira platensis and Arthrospira maxima on Mars can decrease the shipped wet-food mixed-menu mass for a Mars stay and a one-way voyage by 38%; 202 days of Mars polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis with Cupriavidus necator can lower the shipped mass to three-dimensional print a 120 m(3) six-person habitat by 85% and a few days of acetaminophen production with engineered Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 can completely replenish expired or irradiated stocks of the pharmaceutical, thereby providing independence from unmanned resupply spacecraft that take up to 210 days to arrive. Analogous outcomes are included for lunar missions. Because of the benign assumptions involved, the results provide a glimpse of the intriguing potential of 'space synthetic biology', and help focus related efforts for immediate, near-term impact
Application of nutrient concentration of cattle faeces to develop algorithms estimating apparent in vivo digestibility and metabolisable energy of tropical ruminant forages
Electron Cloud Buildup Characterization Using Shielded Pickup Measurements and Custom Modeling Code at CESRTA
The Cornell Electron Storage Ring Test Accelerator experimental program
includes investigations into electron cloud buildup, applying various
mitigation techniques in custom vacuum chambers. Among these are two 1.1-m-long
sections located symmetrically in the east and west arc regions. These chambers
are equipped with pickup detectors shielded against the direct beam-induced
signal. They detect cloud electrons migrating through an 18-mm-diameter pattern
of small holes in the top of the chamber. A digitizing oscilloscope is used to
record the signals, providing time-resolved information on cloud development.
Carbon-coated, TiN-coated and uncoated aluminum chambers have been tested.
Electron and positron beams of 2.1, 4.0 and 5.3 GeV with a variety of bunch
populations and spacings in steps of 4 and 14 ns have been used. Here we report
on results from the ECLOUD modeling code which highlight the sensitivity of
these measurements to the physical phenomena determining cloud buildup such as
the photoelectron production azimuthal and energy distributions, and the
secondary yield parameters including the true secondary, re-diffused, and
elastic yield values.Comment: Presented at ECLOUD'12: Joint INFN-CERN-EuCARD-AccNet Workshop on
Electron-Cloud Effects, La Biodola, Isola d'Elba, Italy, 5-9 June 2012;
CERN-2013-002, pp. 241-25
Locked nucleic acid oligomers as handles for single molecule manipulation.
Single-molecule manipulation (SMM) techniques use applied force, and measured elastic response, to reveal microscopic physical parameters of individual biomolecules and details of biomolecular interactions. A major hurdle in the application of these techniques is the labeling method needed to immobilize biomolecules on solid supports. A simple, minimally-perturbative labeling strategy would significantly broaden the possible applications of SMM experiments, perhaps even allowing the study of native biomolecular structures. To accomplish this, we investigate the use of functionalized locked nucleic acid (LNA) oligomers as biomolecular handles that permit sequence-specific binding and immobilization of DNA. We find these probes form bonds with DNA with high specificity but with varied stability in response to the direction of applied mechanical force: when loaded in a shear orientation, the bound LNA oligomers were measured to be two orders of magnitude more stable than when loaded in a peeling, or unzipping, orientation. Our results show that LNA provides a simple, stable means to functionalize dsDNA for manipulation. We provide design rules that will facilitate their use in future experiments
An Introduction to Rule-based Modeling of Immune Receptor Signaling
Cells process external and internal signals through chemical interactions.
Cells that constitute the immune system (e.g., antigen presenting cell, T-cell,
B-cell, mast cell) can have different functions (e.g., adaptive memory,
inflammatory response) depending on the type and number of receptor molecules
on the cell surface and the specific intracellular signaling pathways activated
by those receptors. Explicitly modeling and simulating kinetic interactions
between molecules allows us to pose questions about the dynamics of a signaling
network under various conditions. However, the application of chemical kinetics
to biochemical signaling systems has been limited by the complexity of the
systems under consideration. Rule-based modeling (BioNetGen, Kappa, Simmune,
PySB) is an approach to address this complexity. In this chapter, by
application to the FcRI receptor system, we will explore the
origins of complexity in macromolecular interactions, show how rule-based
modeling can be used to address complexity, and demonstrate how to build a
model in the BioNetGen framework. Open source BioNetGen software and
documentation are available at http://bionetgen.org.Comment: 5 figure
Reconciliation of the Surface Brightness Fluctuations and Type Ia Supernovae Distance Scales
We present Hubble Space Telescope measurements of surface brightness
fluctuations (SBF) distances to early-type galaxies that have hosted Type Ia
supernovae (SNIa). The agreement in the relative SBF and SNIa multicolor light
curve shape and delta-m_15 distances is excellent. There is no systematic scale
error with distance, and previous work has shown that SBF and SNIa give
consistent ties to the Hubble flow. However, we confirm a systematic offset of
about 0.25 mag in the distance zero points of the two methods, and we trace
this offset to their respective Cepheid calibrations. SBF has in the past been
calibrated with Cepheid distances from the H_0 Key Project team, while SNIa
have been calibrated with Cepheid distances from the team composed of Sandage,
Saha, and collaborators. When the two methods are calibrated in a consistent
way, their distances are in superb agreement. Until the conflict over the
``long'' and ``short'' extragalactic Cepheid distances among many galaxies is
resolved, we cannot definitively constrain the Hubble constant to better than
about 10%, even leaving aside the additional uncertainty in the distance to the
Large Magellanic Cloud, common to both Cepheid scales. However, recent
theoretical SBF predictions from stellar population models favor the Key
Project Cepheid scale, while the theoretical SNIa calibration lies between the
long and short scales. In addition, while the current SBF distance to M31/M32
is in good agreement with the RR Lyrae and red giant branch distances,
calibrating SBF with the longer Cepheid scale would introduce a 0.3 mag offset
with respect to the RR Lyrae scale.Comment: 13 pages, 3 PostScript figures, LaTeX with AASTeX 5.02 and natbib.sty
v7.0 (included). Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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