Renewing solar science: The solar maximum repair mission

The purpose of the Solar Maximum Repair Mission is to restore the operational capacity of the satellite by replacing the attitude control system module and servicing two of the scientific instruments on board. The mission will demonstrate the satellite servicing capacity of the Space Shuttle for the first time

The Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility. Observing the Universe in X-Rays

An overview of the Advanced X ray Astronophysics Facility (AXAF) program is presented. Beginning with a brief introduction to X ray astrophysics, the AXAF observatory is described including the onboard instrumentation and system capabilities. Possible X ray sources suitable for AXAF observation are identified and defined

Assembly, Structure, and Reactivity of Cu\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3eS and Cu\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3eS Models for the Nitrous Oxide Reductase Active Site, Cu\u3csub\u3eZ\u3c/sub\u3e*

Bridging diphosphine ligands were used to facilitate the assembly of copper clusters with single sulfur atom bridges that model the structure of the CuZ* active site of nitrous oxide reductase. Using bis(diphenylphosphino)amine (dppa), a [CuI4(μ4-S)] cluster with N–H hydrogen bond donors in the secondary coordination sphere was assembled. Solvent and anion guests were found docking to the N–H sites in the solid state and in the solution phase, highlighting a kinetically viable pathway for substrate introduction to the inorganic core. Using bis(dicyclohexylphosphino)methane (dcpm), a [CuI3(μ3-S)] cluster was assembled preferentially. Both complexes exhibited reversible oxidation events in their cyclic voltammograms, making them functionally relevant to the CuZ* active site that is capable of catalyzing a multielectron redox transformation, unlike the previously known [CuI4(μ4-S)] complex from Yam and co-workers supported by bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm). The dppa-supported [CuI4(μ4-S)] cluster reacted with N3–, a linear triatomic substrate isoelectronic to N2O, in preference to NO2–, a bent triatomic. This [CuI4(μ4-S)] cluster also bound I–, a known inhibitor of CuZ*. Consistent with previous observations for nitrous oxide reductase, the tetracopper model complex bound the I– inhibitor much more strongly and rapidly than the substrate isoelectronic to N2O, producing unreactive μ3-iodide clusters including a [Cu3(μ3-S)(μ3-I)] complex related to the [Cu4(μ4-S)(μ2-I)] form of the inhibited enzyme

Book Review: The Slow Undoing: The Federal Courts and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights in South Carolina

Sherry Neal reviews The Slow Undoing: The Federal Courts and the Long Struggle for Civil Rights in South Carolina, written by Stephen H. Lowe

Design and Fabrication of a Micromechanical Pressure Sensor

A Microelectromechanical (MEMS) pressure sensor was designed, fabricated, and tested. Photomasks were designed for the project and built in house at RIT. The masks included designs for three separate device designs: devices to be fabricated with a KOH bulk etch, devices to be fabricated with an Surface Technology Systems (STS) Deep Reactive Ion Etch (DRIE), and a third set of scaled device designs for use with the STS DRIE process. Devices were tested in house, and the ideal design was determined. The most sensitive device, which had a resistor L/W of 10, demonstrated a voltage differential of 39 mV

A Cu\u3csub\u3e4\u3c/sub\u3eS Model for the Nitrous Oxide Reductase Active Sites Supported Only by Nitrogen Ligands

To model the (His)7Cu4Sn (n = 1 or 2) active sites of nitrous oxide reductase, the first Cu4(μ4-S) cluster supported only by nitrogen donors has been prepared using amidinate supporting ligands. Structural, magnetic, spectroscopic, and computational characterization is reported. Electrochemical data indicates that the 2-hole model complex can be reduced reversibly to the 1-hole state and irreversibly to the fully reduced state

Using multiple reference ontologies: Managing composite annotations

There are a growing number of reference ontologies available across a variety of biomedical domains and current research focuses on their construction, organization and use. An important use case for these ontologies is annotation—where users create metadata that access concepts and terms in reference ontologies. We draw on our experience in physiological modeling to present a compelling use case that demonstrates the potential complexity of such annotations. In the domain of physiological biosimulation, we argue that most annotations require the use of multiple reference ontologies. We suggest that these “composite” annotations should be retained as a repository of knowledge about post-coordination that promotes sharing and interoperation across biosimulation models

Orienting Graphs to Optimize Reachability

The paper focuses on two problems: (i) how to orient the edges of an undirected graph in order to maximize the number of ordered vertex pairs (x,y) such that there is a directed path from x to y, and (ii) how to orient the edges so as to minimize the number of such pairs. The paper describes a quadratic-time algorithm for the first problem, and a proof that the second problem is NP-hard to approximate within some constant 1+epsilon > 1. The latter proof also shows that the second problem is equivalent to ``comparability graph completion''; neither problem was previously known to be NP-hard

Stability of adversarial Markov chains, with an application to adaptive MCMC algorithms

We consider whether ergodic Markov chains with bounded step size remain bounded in probability when their transitions are modified by an adversary on a bounded subset. We provide counterexamples to show that the answer is no in general, and prove theorems to show that the answer is yes under various additional assumptions. We then use our results to prove convergence of various adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-AAP1083 in the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org