2,787 research outputs found
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Purification and electron cryomicroscopy of coronavirus particles.
Intact, enveloped coronavirus particles vary widely in size and contour, and are thus refractory to study by traditional structural means such as X-ray crystallography. Electron microscopy (EM) overcomes some problems associated with particle variability and has been an important tool for investigating coronavirus ultrastructure. However, EM sample preparation requires that the specimen be dried onto a carbon support film before imaging, collapsing internal particle structure in the case of coronaviruses. Moreover, conventional EM achieves image contrast by immersing the specimen briefly in heavy-metal-containing stain, which reveals some features while obscuring others. Electron cryomicroscopy (cryo-EM) instead employs a porous support film, to which the specimen is adsorbed and flash-frozen. Specimens preserved in vitreous ice over holes in the support film can then be imaged without additional staining. Cryo-EM, coupled with single-particle image analysis techniques, makes it possible to examine the size, structure and arrangement of coronavirus structural components in fully hydrated, native virions. Two virus purification procedures are described
A flight investigation of a terminal area navigation and guidance concept for STOL aircraft
A digital avionics system referred to as STOLAND has been test-flown in the NASA CV-340 to obtain performance data for time-controlled guidance in the manual flight director mode. The advanced system components installed in the cockpit included an electronic attitude director indicator and an electronic multifunction display. Navigation guidance and control computations were all performed in the digital computer. Approach paths were flown which included a narrow 180-deg turn and a 1-min, 5-deg straight-in approach to the 30-m altitude go-around point. Results are presented for 20 approaches: (1) blended radio/inertial navigation using TACAN and a microwave scanning beam landing guidance system (MODILS) permitted a smooth transition from area navigation (TACAN) to precision terminal navigation (MODILS), (2) guidance system (flight director) performance measured at an altitude of 30.5 m was within that prescribed for category II CTOL operations on a standard runway, and (3) time of arrival at a point about 2 mi from touchdown was about 4 sec plus or minus sec later than the computed nominal arrival time
A flight investigation of a terminal area navigation and guidance concept for STOL aircraft
A digital avionics system was installed in the CV-340 transport aircraft. Flight tests were made to obtain preliminary performance data in the manual flight director mode using time controlled guidance. These tests provide a basis for selection of terminal area guidance, navigation, and control system concepts for short haul aircraft and for investigating operational procedures
Measuring cosmological bulk flows via the kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in the upcoming cosmic microwave background maps
We propose a new method to measure the possible large-scale bulk flows in the
Universe from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps from the upcoming
missions, MAP and Planck. This can be done by studying the statistical
properties of the CMB temperature field at many X-ray cluster positions. At
each cluster position, the CMB temperature fluctuation will be a combination of
the Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) kinematic and thermal components, the cosmological
fluctuations and the instrument noise term. When averaged over many such
clusters the last three will integrate down, whereas the first one will be
dominated by a possible bulk flow component. In particular, we propose to use
all-sky X-ray cluster catalogs that should (or could) be available soon from
X-ray satellites, and then to evaluate the dipole component of the CMB field at
the cluster positions. We show that for the MAP and Planck mission parameters
the dominant contributions to the dipole will be from the terms due to the SZ
kinematic effect produced by the bulk flow (the signal we seek) and the
instrument noise (the noise in our signal). Computing then the expected
signal-to-noise ratio for such measurement, we get that at the 95 % confidence
level the bulk flows on scales >100h^{-1} Mpc can be probed down to the
amplitude of km/sec with the MAP data and down to only 30 km/sec with
the Planck mission.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres
Load fluctuations drive actin network growth
The growth of actin filament networks is a fundamental biological process
that drives a variety of cellular and intracellular motions. During motility,
eukaryotic cells and intracellular pathogens are propelled by actin networks
organized by nucleation-promoting factors, which trigger the formation of
nascent filaments off the side of existing filaments in the network. A Brownian
ratchet (BR) mechanism has been proposed to couple actin polymerization to
cellular movements, whereby thermal motions are rectified by the addition of
actin monomers at the end of growing filaments. Here, by following
actin--propelled microspheres using three--dimensional laser tracking, we find
that beads adhered to the growing network move via an object--fluctuating BR.
Velocity varies with the amplitude of thermal fluctuation and inversely with
viscosity as predicted for a BR. In addition, motion is saltatory with a broad
distribution of step sizes that is correlated in time. These data point to a
model in which thermal fluctuations of the microsphere or entire actin network,
and not individual filaments, govern motility. This conclusion is supported by
Monte Carlo simulations of an adhesion--based BR and suggests an important role
for membrane tension in the control of actin--based cellular protrusions.Comment: To be published in PNA
High Order Harmonic Generation in Atom Clusters
We report the generation of short-wavelength, high-order harmonics of intense laser radiation from atom clusters. Clusters containing about 103 atoms are produced in a high-pressure gas jet. We show them to be a unique nonlinear medium. Compared with monomer gases they yield a higher appearance intensity for a given harmonic order, stronger nonlinear dependence of harmonic signal on laser intensity, higher-order harmonics, and reduced saturation of the harmonic signal at high laser intensity
Study of the single body yawed-wing aircraft concept
Areas relating to the development and improvement of the single-fuselage, yawed-wing transonic transport concept were investigated. These included: (1) developing an alternate configuration with a simplified engine installation;(2) determining a structural design speed placard that would allow the engine-airframe match for optimum airplane performance; and (3) conducting an aeroelastic stability and control analysis of the yawed-wing configuration with a flexible wing. A two-engine, single-fuselage, yawed-wing configuration was developed that achieved the Mach 1.2 design mission at 5560 km (3000 nmi) and payload of 18,140 kg (40,000 lb) with a gross weight of 217,700 kg (480,000 lb). This airplane was slightly heavier than the aft-integrated four-engine configuration that had been developed in a previous study. A modified structural design speed placard, which was determined, resulted in a 6% to 8% reduction in the gross weight of the yawed-wing configurations. The dynamic stability characteristics of the single-fuselage yawed-wing configuration were found to be very dependent on the magnitude of the pitch/roll coupling, the static longitudinal stability, and the dihedral effect
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Nuclear propulsion systems engineering
The Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) program of the 1960`s and early 1970`s was dramatically successful, with no major failures during the entire testing program. This success was due in large part to the successful development of a systems engineering process. Systems engineering, properly implemented, involves all aspects of the system design and operation, and leads to optimization of theentire system: cost, schedule, performance, safety, reliability, function, requirements, etc. The process must be incorporated from the very first and continued to project completion. This paper will discuss major aspects of the NERVA systems engineering effort, and consider the implications for current nuclear propulsion efforts
Mixed-state twin observables
Twin observables, i.e. opposite subsystem observables A+ and A- that are
indistinguishable in measurement in a given mixed or pure state W, are
investigated in detail algebraicly and geometrically. It is shown that there is
a far-reaching correspondence between the detectable (in W) spectral entities
of the two operators. Twin observables are state-dependently quantum-logically
equivalent, and direct subsystem measurement of one of them ipso facto gives
rise to the indirect (i.e. distant) measurement of the other. Existence of
nontrivial twins requires singularity of W. Systems in thermodynamic
equilibrium do not admit subsystem twins. These observables may enable one to
simplify the matrix representing W.Comment: 13 page
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