7,053 research outputs found
Investigation of parabolic computational techniques for internal high-speed viscous flows
A feasibility study was conducted to assess the applicability of an existing parabolic analysis (ADD-Axisymmetric Diffuser Duct), developed previously for subsonic viscous internal flows, to mixed supersonic/subsonic flows with heat addition simulating a SCRAMJET combustor. A study was conducted with the ADD code modified to include additional convection effects in the normal momentum equation when supersonic expansion and compression waves were present. It is concluded from the present study that for the class of problems where strong viscous/inviscid interactions are present a global iteration procedure is required
Antenna pattern shaping, sensing, and steering study Final report
Design of steerable satellite antenna with beam pattern sensing syste
Dark Matter Halo Profiles in Scale-Free Cosmologies
We explore the dependence of the central logarithmic slope of dark matter
halo density profiles on the spectral index of the linear matter
power spectrum using cosmological -body simulations of scale-free
models (i.e. ). For each of our simulations we identify
samples of well resolved haloes in dynamical equilibrium and we analyse their
mass profiles. By parameterising the mass profile using a ``generalised''
Navarro, Frenk & White profile in which the central logarithmic slope
is allowed to vary while preserving the asymptotic form at large
radii, we obtain preferred central slopes for haloes in each of our models.
There is a strong correlation between and , such that
becomes shallower as becomes steeper. However, if we normalise our mass
profiles by , the radius at which the logarithmic slope of the density
profile is -2, we find that these differences are no longer present. We
conclude that there is no evidence for convergence to a unique central
asymptotic slope, at least on the scales that we can resolve.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Risk assessment of genetically engineered crops: fitness effects of virus-resistance transgenes in wild Cucurbita pepo
The development of crops genetically engineered for pathogen resistance has raised concerns that crop-to-wild gene flow could release wild or weedy relatives from regulation by the pathogens targeted by the transgenes that confer resistance. Investigation of these risks has also raised questions about the impact of gene flow from conventional crops into wild plant populations. Viruses in natural plant populations can play important roles in plant fecundity and competitive interactions. Here, we show that virus-resistance transgenes and conventional crop genes can increase fecundity of wild plants under virus pressure. We asked how gene flow from a cultivated squash (Cucurbita pepo) engineered for virus resistance would affect the fecundity of wild squash (C. pepo) in the presence and absence of virus pressure. A transgenic squash cultivar was crossed and backcrossed with wild C. pepo from Arkansas. Wild C. pepo, transgenic backcross plants, and non-transgenic backcross plants were compared in field plots in Ithaca, New York, USA. The second and third generations of backcrosses (BC2 and BC3) were used in 2002 and 2003, respectively. One-half of the plants were inoculated with zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), and one-half of the plants were maintained as healthy controls. Virus pressure dramatically decreased the fecundity of wild C. pepo plants and non-transgenic backcross plants relative to transgenic backcross plants, which showed continued functioning of the virus-resistance transgene. In 2002, non-transgenic backcross fecundity was slightly higher than wild C. pepo fecundity under virus pressure, indicating a possible benefit of conventional crop alleles, but they did not differ in 2003 when fecundity was lower in both groups. We detected no fitness costs of the transgene in the absence of the virus. If viruses play a role in the population dynamics of wild C. pepo, we predict that gene flow from transgenic, virus-resistant squash and, to a much lesser extent, conventionally bred squash would increase C. pepo fecundity. Studies such as this one, in combination with documentation of the probability of crop-to-wild gene flow and surveys of virus incidence in wild populations, can provide a solid basis for environmental risk assessments of crops genetically engineered for virus resistance
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