3,533 research outputs found
Mechanistic insights into the inhibition of Sec61-dependent co- and post-translational translocation by mycolactone.
The virulence factor mycolactone is responsible for the immunosuppression and tissue necrosis that characterise Buruli ulcer, a disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium ulcerans. In this study, we confirm that Sec61, the protein-conducting channel that coordinates entry of secretory proteins into the endoplasmic reticulum, is a primary target of mycolactone, and characterise the nature of its inhibitory effect. We conclude that mycolactone constrains the ribosome-nascent chain-Sec61 complex, consistent with its broad-ranging perturbation of the co-translational translocation of classical secretory proteins. In contrast, the effect of mycolactone on the post-translational, ribosome-independent translocation of short secretory proteins through the Sec61 complex is dependent on both signal sequence hydrophobicity and the translocation competence of the mature domain. Changes to protease sensitivity strongly suggest that mycolactone acts by inducing a conformational change in the pore-forming Sec61α subunit. These findings establish that mycolactone inhibits Sec61-mediated protein translocation and highlight differences between the co- and post-translational routes that the Sec61 complex mediates. We propose that mycolactone also provides a useful tool for further delineating the molecular mechanisms of Sec61-dependent protein translocation
Tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous hands with object shape and texture identification
This paper reports on the development of two number of robotic hands have been developed which focus on tele-operated high speed anthropomorphic dextrous robotic hands. The aim of developing these hands was to achieve a system that seamlessly interfaced between humans and robots. To provide sensory feedback, to a remote operator tactile sensors were developed to be mounted on the robotic hands. Two systems were developed, the first, being a skin sensor capable of shape reconstruction placed on the palm of the hand to feed back the shape of objects grasped and the second is a highly sensitive tactile array for surface texture identification
Architecture of a Silicon Strip Beam Position Monitor
A collaboration between Fermilab and the Institute for High Energy Physics
(IHEP), Beijing, has developed a beam position monitor for the IHEP test beam
facility. This telescope is based on 5 stations of silicon strip detectors
having a pitch of 60 microns. The total active area of each layer of the
detector is about 12x10 cm2. Readout of the strips is provided through the use
of VA1` ASICs mounted on custom hybrid printed circuit boards and interfaced to
Adapter Cards via copper-over-kapton flexible circuits. The Adapter Cards
amplify and level-shift the signal for input to the Fermilab CAPTAN data
acquisition nodes for data readout and channel configuration. These nodes
deliver readout and temperature data from triggered events to an analysis
computer over gigabit Ethernet links.Comment: Submitted to TWEPP 201
Development of an Interpretive Simulation Tool for the Proton Radiography Technique
Proton radiography is a useful diagnostic of high energy density (HED)
plasmas under active theoretical and experimental development. In this paper we
describe a new simulation tool that interacts realistic laser-driven point-like
proton sources with three dimensional electromagnetic fields of arbitrary
strength and structure and synthesizes the associated high resolution proton
radiograph. The present tool's numerical approach captures all relevant physics
effects, including effects related to the formation of caustics.
Electromagnetic fields can be imported from PIC or hydrodynamic codes in a
streamlined fashion, and a library of electromagnetic field `primitives' is
also provided. This latter capability allows users to add a primitive, modify
the field strength, rotate a primitive, and so on, while quickly generating a
high resolution radiograph at each step. In this way, our tool enables the user
to deconstruct features in a radiograph and interpret them in connection to
specific underlying electromagnetic field elements. We show an example
application of the tool in connection to experimental observations of the
Weibel instability in counterstreaming plasmas, using particles
generated from a realistic laser-driven point-like proton source, imaging
fields which cover volumes of mm. Insights derived from this
application show that the tool can support understanding of HED plasmas.Comment: Figures and tables related to the Appendix are included in the
published journal articl
A Turbine-powered UAV Controls Testbed
The latest version of the NASA Flying Controls Testbed (FLiC) integrates commercial-off-the-shelf components including airframe, autopilot, and a small turbine engine to provide a low cost experimental flight controls testbed capable of sustained speeds up to 200 mph. The series of flight tests leading up to the demonstrated performance of the vehicle in sustained, autopiloted 200 mph flight at NASA Wallops Flight Facility's UAV runway in August 2006 will be described. Earlier versions of the FLiC were based on a modified Army target drone, AN/FQM-117B, developed as part of a collaboration between the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis, Virginia and NASA Langley Research Center. The newer turbine powered platform (J-FLiC) builds on the successes using the relatively smaller, slower and less expensive unmanned aerial vehicle developed specifically to test highly experimental flight control approaches with the implementation of C-coded experimental controllers. Tracking video was taken during the test flights at Wallops and will be available for presentation at the conference. Analysis of flight data from both remotely piloted and autopiloted flights will be presented. Candidate experimental controllers for implementation will be discussed. It is anticipated that flight testing will resume in Spring 2007 and those results will be included, if possible
Higher order eigenpair perturbations
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76914/1/AIAA-11149-583.pd
The Blanco Cosmology Survey: Data Acquisition, Processing, Calibration, Quality Diagnostics and Data Release
The Blanco Cosmology Survey (BCS) is a 60 night imaging survey of 80
deg of the southern sky located in two fields: (,)= (5 hr,
) and (23 hr, ). The survey was carried out between
2005 and 2008 in bands with the Mosaic2 imager on the Blanco 4m
telescope. The primary aim of the BCS survey is to provide the data required to
optically confirm and measure photometric redshifts for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich
effect selected galaxy clusters from the South Pole Telescope and the Atacama
Cosmology Telescope. We process and calibrate the BCS data, carrying out PSF
corrected model fitting photometry for all detected objects. The median
10 galaxy (point source) depths over the survey in are
approximately 23.3 (23.9), 23.4 (24.0), 23.0 (23.6) and 21.3 (22.1),
respectively. The astrometric accuracy relative to the USNO-B survey is
milli-arcsec. We calibrate our absolute photometry using the stellar
locus in bands, and thus our absolute photometric scale derives from
2MASS which has % accuracy. The scatter of stars about the stellar locus
indicates a systematics floor in the relative stellar photometric scatter in
that is 1.9%, 2.2%, 2.7% and2.7%, respectively.
A simple cut in the AstrOmatic star-galaxy classifier {\tt spread\_model}
produces a star sample with good spatial uniformity. We use the resulting
photometric catalogs to calibrate photometric redshifts for the survey and
demonstrate scatter with an outlier fraction %
to . We highlight some selected science results to date and provide a
full description of the released data products.Comment: 23 pages, 23 figures . Response to referee comments. Paper accepted
for publication. BCS catalogs and images available for download from
http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/BC
Improvement of normalization methods for eigenvector derivatives
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76868/1/AIAA-11108-459.pd
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