Open Source GIS Connectors to NASA GES DISC Satellite Data

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) houses a suite of high spatiotemporal resolution GIS data including satellite-derived and modeled precipitation, air quality, and land surface parameter data. The data are valuable to various GIS research and applications at regional, continental, and global scales. On the other hand, many GIS users, especially those from the ArcGIS community, have difficulties in obtaining, importing, and using our data due to factors such as the variety of data products, the complexity of satellite remote sensing data, and the data encoding formats. We introduce a simple open source ArcGIS data connector that significantly simplifies the access and use of GES DISC data in ArcGIS

Structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of poliovirus

AbstractBackground: The central player in the replication of RNA viruses is the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The 53 kDa poliovirus polymerase, together with other viral and possibly host proteins, carries out viral RNA replication in the host cell cytoplasm. RNA-dependent RNA polymerases comprise a distinct category of polymerases that have limited sequence similarity to reverse transcriptases (RNA-dependent DNA polymerases) and perhaps also to DNA-dependent polymerases. Previously reported structures of RNA-dependent DNA polymerases, DNA-dependent DNA polymerases and a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase show that structural and evolutionary relationships exist between the different polymerase categories.Results: We have determined the structure of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of poliovirus at 2.6 Å resolution by X-ray crystallography. It has the same overall shape as other polymerases, commonly described by analogy to a right hand. The structures of the ‘fingers’ and ‘thumb’ subdomains of poliovirus polymerase differ from those of other polymerases, but the palm subdomain contains a core structure very similar to that of other polymerases. This conserved core structure is composed of four of the amino acid sequence motifs described for RNA-dependent polymerases. Structure-based alignments of these motifs has enabled us to modify and extend previous sequence and structural alignments so as to relate sequence conservation to function. Extensive regions of polymerase–polymerase interactions observed in the crystals suggest an unusual higher order structure that we believe is important for polymerase function.Conclusions: As a first example of a structure of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the poliovirus polymerase structure provides for a better understanding of polymerase structure, function and evolution. In addition, it has yielded insights into an unusual higher order structure that may be critical for poliovirus polymerase function

World Civilizations I & II (GHC)

This Grants Collection for World Civilizations I & II was created under a Round Ten ALG Textbook Transformation Grant. Affordable Learning Georgia Grants Collections are intended to provide faculty with the frameworks to quickly implement or revise the same materials as a Textbook Transformation Grants team, along with the aims and lessons learned from project teams during the implementation process. Documents are in .pdf format, with a separate .docx (Word) version available for download. Each collection contains the following materials: Linked Syllabus Initial Proposal Final Reporthttps://oer.galileo.usg.edu/history-collections/1008/thumbnail.jp

The Evolution of Failure Analysis at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the Lessons Learned

The United States has had four manned launch programs and three station programs since the era of human space flight began in 1961. The launch programs, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Shuttle, and the station programs, Skylab, Shuttle-Mir, and the International Space Station (ISS), have all been enormously successful, not only in advancing the exploration of space, but also in advancing related technologies. As each subsequent program built upon the successes of previous programs, they similarly learned from their predecessors' failures. While some failures were spectacular and captivated the attention of the world, most only held the attention of the dedicated men and women working to make the missions succeed

Dial Measurements of Free-Tropospheric Ozone Profiles in Huntsville, AL

A tropospheric ozone DIfferential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system has been developed jointly by NASA and the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UAH). Two separated Nd:YAG pumped dye laser systems produce the laser pulses with wavelengths of 285 and 291 nm at 20 Hz frequency. The receiver is a Newtonian telescope with a 40 cm primary and a two-channel aft optics unit. The detection system currently uses photon counting to facilitate operations at the maximum achievable altitude. This lidar measures free-tropospheric ozone profiles between 4-10 km at Regional Atmospheric Profiling Laboratory for Discovery (RAPCD) in UAH campus (ASL 206 m) under both daytime and nighttime conditions. Frequent coincident ozonesonde flights and theoretical calculations provide evidence to indicate the retrieval accuracy ranges from approx.5% at 4 km to approx.60% at 10 km with 750-m vertical resolution and 30-minute integration. Three Hamamatsu 7400 PMTs and analog detection technique will be added on the current system to extend the measurement to approx.100 m above ground to monitor the PBL and lower tropospheric ozone variations

Machine learning assembly landscapes from particle tracking data

Bottom-up self-assembly offers a powerful route for the fabrication of novel structural and functional materials. Rational engineering of self-assembling systems requires understanding of the accessible aggregation states and the structural assembly pathways. In this work, we apply nonlinear machine learning to experimental particle tracking data to infer low-dimensional assembly landscapes mapping the morphology, stability, and assembly pathways of accessible aggregates as a function of experimental conditions. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first time that collective order parameters and assembly landscapes have been inferred directly from experimental data. We apply this technique to the nonequilibrium self-assembly of metallodielectric Janus colloids in an oscillating electric field, and quantify the impact of field strength, oscillation frequency, and salt concentration on the dominant assembly pathways and terminal aggregates. This combined computational and experimental framework furnishes new understanding of self-assembling systems, and quantitatively informs rational engineering of experimental conditions to drive assembly along desired aggregation pathways. © 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistryope