Orbital operation for large automated satellites

Orbital operations concepts for the shuttle launched Large Automated Satellites (LAS) are discussed. It includes the orbital operations elements and the major options for accomplishing each element. This study is based on the preliminary payload information available in Level I and II documents and on orbital operations methods used on past programs, both manned and unmanned. It includes a definition of detailed trade studies which need to be performed as satellite design details and organization responsibilities are defined. The major objectives of this study were to define operational methods and requirements for the long duration LAS missions which are effective and primarily economical to implement

Correlation between nucleotide composition and folding energy of coding sequences with special attention to wobble bases

Background: The secondary structure and complexity of mRNA influences its accessibility to regulatory molecules (proteins, micro-RNAs), its stability and its level of expression. The mobile elements of the RNA sequence, the wobble bases, are expected to regulate the formation of structures encompassing coding sequences. Results: The sequence/folding energy (FE) relationship was studied by statistical, bioinformatic methods in 90 CDS containing 26,370 codons. I found that the FE (dG) associated with coding sequences is significant and negative (407 kcal/1000 bases, mean +/- S.E.M.) indicating that these sequences are able to form structures. However, the FE has only a small free component, less than 10% of the total. The contribution of the 1st and 3rd codon bases to the FE is larger than the contribution of the 2nd (central) bases. It is possible to achieve a ~ 4-fold change in FE by altering the wobble bases in synonymous codons. The sequence/FE relationship can be described with a simple algorithm, and the total FE can be predicted solely from the sequence composition of the nucleic acid. The contributions of different synonymous codons to the FE are additive and one codon cannot replace another. The accumulated contributions of synonymous codons of an amino acid to the total folding energy of an mRNA is strongly correlated to the relative amount of that amino acid in the translated protein. Conclusion: Synonymous codons are not interchangable with regard to their role in determining the mRNA FE and the relative amounts of amino acids in the translated protein, even if they are indistinguishable in respect of amino acid coding.Comment: 14 pages including 6 figures and 1 tabl

Folding Polyominoes into (Poly)Cubes

We study the problem of folding a polyomino $P$ into a polycube $Q$, allowing faces of $Q$ to be covered multiple times. First, we define a variety of folding models according to whether the folds (a) must be along grid lines of $P$ or can divide squares in half (diagonally and/or orthogonally), (b) must be mountain or can be both mountain and valley, (c) can remain flat (forming an angle of $180^\circ$), and (d) must lie on just the polycube surface or can have interior faces as well. Second, we give all the inclusion relations among all models that fold on the grid lines of $P$. Third, we characterize all polyominoes that can fold into a unit cube, in some models. Fourth, we give a linear-time dynamic programming algorithm to fold a tree-shaped polyomino into a constant-size polycube, in some models. Finally, we consider the triangular version of the problem, characterizing which polyiamonds fold into a regular tetrahedron.Comment: 30 pages, 19 figures, full version of extended abstract that appeared in CCCG 2015. (Change over previous version: Fixed a missing reference.

Chemical equilibration and thermal dilepton production from the quark gluon plasma at finite baryon density

The chemical equilibration of a highly unsaturated quark-gluon plasma has been studied at finite baryon density. It is found that in the presence of small amount of baryon density, the chemical equilibration for gluon becomes slower and the temperature decreases less steeply as compared to the baryon free plasma. As a result, the space time integrated yield of dilepton is enhanced if the initial temperature of the plasma is held fixed. Even at a fixed initial energy density, the suppression of the dilepton yields at higher baryo-chemical potential is compensated, to a large extent, by the slow cooling of the plasma.Comment: Latex, 19 pages, 8 postscript figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

The Proteomic Code: a molecular recognition code for proteins

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Proteomic Code is a set of rules by which information in genetic material is transferred into the physico-chemical properties of amino acids. It determines how individual amino acids interact with each other during folding and in specific protein-protein interactions. The Proteomic Code is part of the redundant Genetic Code.</p> <p>Review</p> <p>The 25-year-old history of this concept is reviewed from the first independent suggestions by Biro and Mekler, through the works of Blalock, Root-Bernstein, Siemion, Miller and others, followed by the discovery of a Common Periodic Table of Codons and Nucleic Acids in 2003 and culminating in the recent conceptualization of partial complementary coding of interacting amino acids as well as the theory of the nucleic acid-assisted protein folding.</p> <p>Methods and conclusions</p> <p>A novel cloning method for the design and production of specific, high-affinity-reacting proteins (SHARP) is presented. This method is based on the concept of proteomic codes and is suitable for large-scale, industrial production of specifically interacting peptides.</p

Neural mechanisms of predatory aggression in rats-implications for abnormal intraspecific aggression

Our recent studies showed that brain areas that are activated in a model of escalated aggression overlap with those that promote predatory aggression in cats. This finding raised the interesting possibility that the brain mechanisms that control certain types of abnormal aggression include those involved in predation. However, the mechanisms of predatory aggression are poorly known in rats, a species that is in many respects different from cats. To get more insights into such mechanisms, here we studied the brain activation patterns associated with spontaneous muricide in rats. Subjects not exposed to mice, and those which did not show muricide were used as controls. We found that muricide increased the activation of the central and basolateral amygdala, and lateral hypothalamus as compared to both controls; in addition, a ventral shift in periaqueductal gray activation was observed. Interestingly, these are the brain regions from where predatory aggression can be elicited, or enhanced by electrical stimulation in cats. The analysis of more than 10 other brain regions showed that brain areas that inhibited (or were neutral to) cat predatory aggression were not affected by muricide. Brain activation patterns partly overlapped with those seen earlier in the cockroach hunting model of rat predatory aggression, and were highly similar with those observed in the glucocorticoid dysfunction model of escalated aggression. These findings show that the brain mechanisms underlying predation are evolutionarily conservative, and indirectly support our earlier assumption regarding the involvement of predation-related brain mechanisms in certain forms of escalated social aggression in rats

Visualising the past – an evaluation of processes and sequences for fingermark recovery from old documents

This study aimed to collect data on the effectiveness of most of the fingermark visualisation reagents currently used on porous surfaces on fingermarks aged for up to 90 years, significantly extending the timescales for which such information exists. A limited subset of the variables associated with processing of old fingermarks was explored, with a focus on the use of 1,8 diazafluoren-9-one (DFO), 1,2-indandione, ninhydrin, and physical developer. These techniques were used in sequence on batches of cheques between 11 and 32 years old, and on documents dating from the 1920s and 1940s. The potential for applying a physical developer enhancement process (blue toning) as the final step in the sequence was also explored. The benefits of using processing sequences on porous items were clearly demonstrated, with all processes in the sequence adding value in terms of additional marks found on the cheques up to 32 years old. In addition, physical developer was found to be capable of developing fingermarks up to 90 years old, whereas the amino acid reagents appear less effective on documents of 70 years and older. An experimental physical developer formulation with reduced environmental impact was found to be as effective as the existing process in these experiments. Blue toning was found to visualise an additional 10-25% of marks, and its wider use after silver-based deposition processes is recommended based on the evidence from this study.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Some Open Points in Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics

We present and discuss a list of some interesting points that are currently open in nonextensive statistical mechanics. Their analytical, numerical, experimental or observational advancement would naturally be very welcome.Comment: 30 pages including 6 figures. Invited paper to appear in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chao

Entropy production and equilibration in Yang-Mills quantum mechanics

The Husimi distribution provides for a coarse grained representation of the phase space distribution of a quantum system, which may be used to track the growth of entropy of the system. We present a general and systematic method of solving the Husimi equation of motion for an isolated quantum system, and we construct a coarse grained Hamiltonian whose expectation value is exactly conserved. As an application, we numerically solve the Husimi equation of motion for two-dimensional Yang-Mills quantum mechanics (the x-y model) and calculate the time evolution of the coarse grained entropy of a highly excited state. We show that the coarse grained entropy saturates to a value that coincides with the microcanonical entropy corresponding to the energy of the system.Comment: 23 pages, 23 figure

Nonlinear evolution of the momentum dependent condensates in strong interaction: the ``pseudoscalar laser''

We discuss the relaxation of the scalar and pseudoscalar condensates after a rapid quench from an initial state with fluctuations. If we include not only the zero-mode but also higher modes of the condensates in the classical evolution, we observe parametric amplification of those ``hard'' modes. Thus, they couple nonlinearly to the ``soft'' modes. As a consequence, domains of coherent pi-field emerge long after the initial spinodal decomposition. The momentum-space distribution of pions emerging from the decay of that momentum-dependent condensate is discussed.Comment: 6 Pages, REVTEX, 8 Figures; one reference and one figure adde