2,206 research outputs found
Mechanisms and Observations of Coronal Dimming for the 2010 August 7 Event
Coronal dimming of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission has the potential to be
a useful forecaster of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). As emitting material
leaves the corona, a temporary void is left behind which can be observed in
spectral images and irradiance measurements. The velocity and mass of the CMEs
should impact the character of those observations. However, other physical
processes can confuse the observations. We describe these processes and the
expected observational signature, with special emphasis placed on the
differences. We then apply this understanding to a coronal dimming event with
an associated CME that occurred on 2010 August 7. Data from the Solar Dynamics
Observatory's (SDO) Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and EUV Variability
Experiment (EVE) are used for observations of the dimming, while the Solar and
Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO) Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph
(LASCO) and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory's (STEREO) COR1 and
COR2 are used to obtain velocity and mass estimates for the associated CME. We
develop a technique for mitigating temperature effects in coronal dimming from
full-disk irradiance measurements taken by EVE. We find that for this event,
nearly 100% of the dimming is due to mass loss in the corona
Quasi-ballistic transport in HgTe quantum-well nanostructures
The transport properties of micrometer scale structures fabricated from
high-mobility HgTe quantum-wells have been investigated. A special photoresist
and Ti masks were used, which allow for the fabrication of devices with
characteristic dimensions down to 0.45 m. Evidence that the transport
properties are dominated by ballistic effects in these structures is presented.
Monte Carlo simulations of semi-classical electron trajectories show good
agreement with the experiment.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures; minor revisions: replaced "inelastic mean free
path" with "transport mean free path"; corrected typing errors; restructered
most paragraphs for easier reading; accepted for publication in AP
Integrating the promotion of physical activity within a smoking cessation programme: Findings from collaborative action research in UK Stop Smoking Services
Background: Within the framework of collaborative action research, the aim was to explore the feasibility of
developing and embedding physical activity promotion as a smoking cessation aid within UK 6/7-week National
Health Service (NHS) Stop Smoking Services.
Methods: In Phase 1 three initial cycles of collaborative action research (observation, reflection, planning,
implementation and re-evaluation), in an urban Stop Smoking Service, led to the development of an integrated
intervention in which physical activity was promoted as a cessation aid, with the support of a theoretically based
self-help guide, and self monitoring using pedometers. In Phase 2 advisors underwent training and offered the
intervention, and changes in physical activity promoting behaviour and beliefs were monitored. Also, changes in
clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a cessation aid, physical activity beliefs and behaviour and
physical activity levels were assessed, among those who attended the clinic at 4-week post-quit. Qualitative data
were collected, in the form of clinic observation, informal interviews with advisors and field notes.
Results: The integrated intervention emerged through cycles of collaboration as something quite different to
previous practice. Based on field notes, there were many positive elements associated with the integrated
intervention in Phase 2. Self-reported advisors’ physical activity promoting behaviour increased as a result of
training and adapting to the intervention. There was a significant advancement in clients’ stage of readiness to use physical activity as a smoking cessation aid.
Conclusions: Collaboration with advisors was key in ensuring that a feasible intervention was developed as an aid to smoking cessation. There is scope to further develop tailored support to increasing physical activity and
smoking cessation, mediated through changes in perceptions about the benefits of, and confidence to do physical activity
Halothane binds to druggable sites in the [Ca2+]4-calmodulin (CaM) complex, but does not inhibit [Ca2+]4-CaM activation of kinase
The mechanism(s) of volatile anesthetics (VA) are poorly understood. We used
high resolution NMR spectroscopy to determine the structure of the
halothane/calmodulin([Ca2+]4-CaM) complex, and found that halothane molecules
bind in the druggable sites. We then examined whether VA binding to druggable
sites in calmodulin would effect [Ca2+]4-CaM dependent activity of myosin
light chain kinase. We used fluorescence assays to determine that VA effect
[Ca2+]4-CaM activation of smooth-muscle-myosin-light-chain-kinase (smMLCK),
but not the Kd of [Ca2+]4-CaM binding to
skeletal-myosin-light-chain-kinase-peptide recognition sequence (skMLCKp).
These results suggest that VA do not alter [Ca2+]4-CaM dependent MLCK
activity via direct interactions with [Ca2+]4-CaM
Accelerator system for the PRISM based muon to electron conversion experiment
The next generation of lepton flavor violation experiments need high
intensity and high quality muon beams. Production of such beams requires
sending a short, high intensity proton pulse to the pion production target,
capturing pions and collecting the resulting muons in the large acceptance
transport system. The substantial increase of beam quality can be obtained by
applying the RF phase rotation on the muon beam in the dedicated FFAG ring,
which was proposed for the PRISM project.This allows to reduce the momentum
spread of the beam and to purify from the unwanted components like pions or
secondary protons. A PRISM Task Force is addressing the accelerator and
detector issues that need to be solved in order to realize the PRISM
experiment. The parameters of the required proton beam, the principles of the
PRISM experiment and the baseline FFAG design are introduced. The spectrum of
alternative designs for the PRISM FFAG ring are shown. Progress on ring main
systems like injection and RF are presented. The current status of the study
and its future directions are discussed.Comment: Studies performed within the PRISM Task Force initiativ
Genome-wide conserved consensus transcription factor binding motifs are hyper-methylated.
BACKGROUND: DNA methylation can regulate gene expression by modulating the interaction between DNA and proteins or protein complexes. Conserved consensus motifs exist across the human genome ("predicted transcription factor binding sites": "predicted TFBS") but the large majority of these are proven by chromatin immunoprecipitation and high throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) not to be biological transcription factor binding sites ("empirical TFBS"). We hypothesize that DNA methylation at conserved consensus motifs prevents promiscuous or disorderly transcription factor binding. RESULTS: Using genome-wide methylation maps of the human heart and sperm, we found that all conserved consensus motifs as well as the subset of those that reside outside CpG islands have an aggregate profile of hyper-methylation. In contrast, empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs have a profile of hypo-methylation. 40% of empirical TFBS with conserved consensus motifs resided in CpG islands whereas only 7% of all conserved consensus motifs were in CpG islands. Finally we further identified a minority subset of TF whose profiles are either hypo-methylated or neutral at their respective conserved consensus motifs implicating that these TF may be responsible for establishing or maintaining an un-methylated DNA state, or whose binding is not regulated by DNA methylation. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis supports the hypothesis that at least for a subset of TF, empirical binding to conserved consensus motifs genome-wide may be controlled by DNA methylation.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are
Glaciers and small ice caps in the macro-scale hydrological cycle: an assessment of present conditions and future changes
Glacier and small ice cap melt water contributions to the global hydrologic cycle are an important component of human water supply and for sea level rise. This melt water is used in many arid and semi-arid parts of the world for direct human consumption as well as indirect consumption by irrigation for crops, serving as frozen reservoirs of water that supplement runoff during warm and dry periods of summer when it is needed the most. Additionally, this melt water reaching the oceans represents a direct input to sea level rise and therefore accurate estimates of this contribution have profound economic and geopolitical implications. It has been demonstrated that, on the scale of glacierized river catchments, land surface hydrological models can successfully simulate glacier contribution to streamflow. However, at global scales, the implementation of glacier melt in hydrological models has been rudimentary or non-existent. In this study, a global glacier mass balance model is coupled with the University of New Hampshire Water Balance/Transport Model (WBM) to assess recent and projected future glacier contributions to the hydrological cycle over the global land surface (excluding the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica). For instance, results of WBM simulations indicate that seasonal glacier melt water in many arid climate watersheds comprises 40 % or more of their discharge. Implicitly coupled glacier and WBM models compute monthly glacier mass changes and resulting runoff at the glacier terminus for each individual glacier from the globally complete Randolph Glacier Inventory including over 200 000 glaciers. The time series of glacier runoff is aggregated over each hydrological modeling unit and delivered to the hydrological model for routing downstream and mixing with non-glacial contribution of runoff to each drainage basin outlet. WBM tracks and uses glacial and non-glacial components of the in-stream water for filling reservoirs, transfers of water between drainage basins (inter-basin hydrological transfers), and irrigation along the global system of rivers with net discharge to the ocean. Climate scenarios from global climate models prepared for IPCC AR5 are used to explore an expected range of possible future glacier outflow variability to estimate the impacts on human use of these valuable waters and their poorly understood net contribution to sea level change
Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE) Multiple EUV Grating Spectrographs (MEGS): Radiometric Calibrations and Results
The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), scheduled for launch in early 2010, incorporates a suite of instruments including the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE). EVE has multiple instruments including the Multiple Extreme ultraviolet Grating Spectrographs (MEGS) A, B, and P instruments, the Solar Aspect Monitor (SAM), and the Extreme ultraviolet SpectroPhotometer (ESP). The radiometric calibration of EVE, necessary to convert the instrument counts to physical units, was performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF III) located in Gaithersburg, Maryland. This paper presents the results and derived accuracy of this radiometric calibration for the MEGS A, B, P, and SAM instruments, while the calibration of the ESP instrument is addressed by Didkovsky et al. . In addition, solar measurements that were taken on 14 April 2008, during the NASA 36.240 sounding-rocket flight, are shown for the prototype EVE instruments
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