1,720 research outputs found
Report of the Terrestrial Bodies Science Working Group. Volume 9: Complementary research and development
Topics discussed include the need for: the conception and development of a wide spectrum of experiments, instruments, and vehicles in order to derive the proper return from an exploration program; the effective use of alternative methods of data acquisition involving ground-based, airborne and near Earth orbital techniques to supplement spacraft mission; and continued reduction and analysis of existing data including laboratory and theoretical studies in order to benefit fully from experiments and to build on the past programs toward a logical and efficient exploration of the solar system
Seminar Users in the Arabic Twitter Sphere
We introduce the notion of "seminar users", who are social media users
engaged in propaganda in support of a political entity. We develop a framework
that can identify such users with 84.4% precision and 76.1% recall. While our
dataset is from the Arab region, omitting language-specific features has only a
minor impact on classification performance, and thus, our approach could work
for detecting seminar users in other parts of the world and in other languages.
We further explored a controversial political topic to observe the prevalence
and potential potency of such users. In our case study, we found that 25% of
the users engaged in the topic are in fact seminar users and their tweets make
nearly a third of the on-topic tweets. Moreover, they are often successful in
affecting mainstream discourse with coordinated hashtag campaigns.Comment: to appear in SocInfo 201
Ultraviolet and visible photometry of asteroid (21) Lutetia using the Hubble Space Telescope
The asteroid (21) Lutetia is the target of a planned close encounter by the
Rosetta spacecraft in July 2010. To prepare for that flyby, Lutetia has been
extensively observed by a variety of astronomical facilities. We used the
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the albedo of Lutetia over a wide
wavelength range, extending from ~150 nm to ~700 nm. Using data from a variety
of HST filters and a ground-based visible light spectrum, we employed synthetic
photometry techniques to derive absolute fluxes for Lutetia. New results from
ground-based measurements of Lutetia's size and shape were used to convert the
absolute fluxes into albedos. We present our best model for the spectral energy
distribution of Lutetia over the wavelength range 120-800 nm. There appears to
be a steep drop in the albedo (by a factor of ~2) for wavelengths shorter than
~300 nm. Nevertheless, the far ultraviolet albedo of Lutetia (~10%) is
considerably larger than that of typical C-chondrite material (~4%). The
geometric albedo at 550 nm is 16.5 +/- 1%. Lutetia's reflectivity is not
consistent with a metal-dominated surface at infrared or radar wavelengths, and
its albedo at all wavelengths (UV-visibile-IR-radar) is larger than observed
for typical primitive, chondritic material. We derive a relatively high FUV
albedo of ~10%, a result that will be tested by observations with the Alice
spectrograph during the Rosetta flyby of Lutetia in July 2010.Comment: 14 pages, 2 tables, 8 figure
Near-Infrared Mapping and Physical Properties of the Dwarf-Planet Ceres
We study the physical characteristics (shape, dimensions, spin axis
direction, albedo maps, mineralogy) of the dwarf-planet Ceres based on
high-angular resolution near-infrared observations. We analyze adaptive optics
J/H/K imaging observations of Ceres performed at Keck II Observatory in
September 2002 with an equivalent spatial resolution of ~50 km. The spectral
behavior of the main geological features present on Ceres is compared with
laboratory samples. Ceres' shape can be described by an oblate spheroid (a = b
= 479.7 +/- 2.3 km, c = 444.4 +/- 2.1 km) with EQJ2000.0 spin vector
coordinates RA = 288 +/- 5 deg. and DEC = +66 +/- 5 deg. Ceres sidereal period
is measured to be 9.0741 +/- 0.0001 h. We image surface features with diameters
in the 50-180 km range and an albedo contrast of ~6% with respect to the
average Ceres albedo. The spectral behavior of the brightest regions on Ceres
is consistent with phyllosilicates and carbonate compounds. Darker isolated
regions could be related to the presence of frost.Comment: 11 pages, 8 Postscript figures, Accepted for publication in A&
The triaxial ellipsoid dimensions, rotational pole, and bulk density of ESA Rosetta target asteroid (21) Lutetia
We seek the best size estimates of the asteroid (21) Lutetia, the direction
of its spin axis, and its bulk density, assuming its shape is well described by
a smooth featureless triaxial ellipsoid, and to evaluate the deviations from
this assumption. Methods. We derive these quantities from the outlines of the
asteroid in 307 images of its resolved apparent disk obtained with adaptive
optics (AO) at Keck II and VLT, and combine these with recent mass
determinations to estimate a bulk density. Our best triaxial ellipsoid
diameters for Lutetia, based on our AO images alone, are a x b x c = 132 x 101
x 93 km, with uncertainties of 4 x 3 x 13 km including estimated systematics,
with a rotational pole within 5 deg. of ECJ2000 [long,lat] = [45, -7], or
EQJ2000 [RA, DEC] = [44, +9]. The AO model fit itself has internal precisions
of 1 x 1 x 8 km, but it is evident, both from this model derived from limited
viewing aspects and the radius vector model given in a companion paper, that
Lutetia has significant departures from an idealized ellipsoid. In particular,
the long axis may be overestimated from the AO images alone by about 10 km.
Therefore, we combine the best aspects of the radius vector and ellipsoid model
into a hybrid ellipsoid model, as our final result, of 124 +/- 5 x 101 +/- 4 x
93 +/- 13 km that can be used to estimate volumes, sizes, and projected areas.
The adopted pole position is within 5 deg. of [long, lat] = [52, -6] or[RA DEC]
= [52, +12]. Using two separately determined masses and the volume of our
hybrid model, we estimate a density of 3.5 +/- 1.1 or 4.3 +/- 0.8 g cm-3 . From
the density evidence alone, we argue that this favors an enstatite-chondrite
composition, although other compositions are formally allowed at the extremes
(low-porosity CV/CO carbonaceous chondrite or high-porosity metallic). We
discuss this in the context of other evidence.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
Indicators and Benchmarks for Wind Erosion Monitoring, Assessment and Management
Wind erosion and blowing dust threaten food security, human health and ecosystem services across global drylands. Monitoring wind erosion is needed to inform management, with explicit monitoring objectives being critical for interpreting and translating monitoring information into management actions. Monitoring objectives should establish quantitative guidelines for determining the relationship of wind erosion indicators to management benchmarks that reflect tolerable erosion and dust production levels considering impacts to, for example, ecosystem processes, species, agricultural production systems and human well-being. Here we: 1) critically review indicators of wind erosion and blowing dust that are currently available to practitioners; and 2) describe approaches for establishing benchmarks to support wind erosion assessments and management. We find that while numerous indicators are available for monitoring wind erosion, only a subset have been used routinely and most monitoring efforts have focused on air quality impacts of dust. Indicators need to be related to the causal soil and vegetation controls in eroding areas to directly inform management. There is great potential to use regional standardized soil and vegetation monitoring datasets, remote sensing and models to provide new information on wind erosion across landscapes. We identify best practices for establishing benchmarks for these indicators based on experimental studies, mechanistic and empirical models, and distributions of indicator values obtained from monitoring data at historic or existing reference sites. The approaches to establishing benchmarks described here have enduring utility as monitoring technologies change and enable managers to evaluate co-benefits and potential trade-offs among ecosystem services as affected by wind erosion management
Physical properties of ESA Rosetta target asteroid (21) Lutetia: Shape and flyby geometry
Aims. We determine the physical properties (spin state and shape) of asteroid
(21) Lutetia, target of the ESA Rosetta mission, to help in preparing for
observations during the flyby on 2010 July 10 by predicting the orientation of
Lutetia as seen from Rosetta.
Methods. We use our novel KOALA inversion algorithm to determine the physical
properties of asteroids from a combination of optical lightcurves,
disk-resolved images, and stellar occultations, although the latter are not
available for (21) Lutetia.
Results. We find the spin axis of (21) Lutetia to lie within 5 degrees of
({\lambda} = 52 deg., {\beta} = -6 deg.) in Ecliptic J2000 reference frame
(equatorial {\alpha} = 52 deg., {\delta} = +12 deg.), and determine an improved
sidereal period of 8.168 270 \pm 0.000 001 h. This pole solution implies the
southern hemisphere of Lutetia will be in "seasonal" shadow at the time of the
flyby. The apparent cross-section of Lutetia is triangular as seen "pole-on"
and more rectangular as seen "equator-on". The best-fit model suggests the
presence of several concavities. The largest of these is close to the north
pole and may be associated with large impacts.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Identification of manganese superoxide dismutase from Sphingobacterium sp. T2 as a novel bacterial enzyme for lignin oxidation
The valorisation of aromatic heteropolymer lignin is an important unsolved problem in the development of a biomass-based biorefinery, for which novel high-activity biocatalysts are needed. Sequencing of the genomic DNA of lignin-degrading bacterial strain Sphingobacterium sp. T2 revealed no matches to known lignin-degrading genes. Proteomic matches for two manganese superoxide dismutase proteins were found in partially purified extracellular fractions. Recombinant MnSOD1 and MnSOD2 were both found to show high activity for oxidation of Organosolv and Kraft lignin, and lignin model compounds, generating multiple oxidation products. Structure determination revealed that the products result from aryl-Cα and Cα-Cβ bond oxidative cleavage and O-demethylation. The crystal structure of MnSOD1 was determined to 1.35 Å resolution, revealing a typical MnSOD homodimer harbouring a 5-coordinate trigonal bipyramidal Mn(II) centre ligated by three His, one Asp and a water/hydroxide in each active site. We propose that the lignin oxidation reactivity of these enzymes is due to the production of hydroxyl radical, a highly reactive oxidant. This is the first demonstration that MnSOD is a microbial lignin-oxidising enzyme
Mineralogy of the Lunar Crust in Spatial Context: First Results from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3)
India's Chandrayaan-1 successfully launched October 22, 2008 and went into lunar orbit a few weeks later. Commissioning of instruments began in late November and was near complete by the end of the year. Initial data for NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) were acquired across the Orientale Basin and the science results are discussed here. M 3 image-cube data provide mineralogy of the surface in geologic context. A major new result is that the existence and distribution of massive amounts of anorthosite as a continuous stratigraphic crustal layer is now irrefutable
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