2,918 research outputs found
Sulfur, Chlorine, and Flourine Degassing and Atmospheric Loading by the 1783 - 1784 AD Laki (Skaftar Fires) Eruption in Iceland
The 1783-1784 Laki tholeiitic basalt fissure eruption in Iceland was one of the greatest atmospheric pollution events of the past 250 years, with widespread effects in the northern hemisphere. The degassing history and volatile budget of this event are determined by measurements of pre-eruption and residual contents of sulfur, chlorine, and fluorine in the products of all phases of the eruption. In fissure eruptions such as Laki, degassing occurs in two stages: by explosive activity or lava fountaining at the vents, and from the lava as it flows away from the vents. Using the measured sulfur concentrations in glass inclusions in phenocrysts and in groundmass glasses of quenched eruption products, we calculate that the total accumulative atmospheric mass loading of sulfur dioxide was 122 Mt over a period of 8 months. This volatile release is sufficient to have generated approximately 250 Mt of H2SO4 aerosols, an amount which agrees with an independent estimate of the Laki aerosol yield based on atmospheric turbidity measurements. Most of this volatile mass (approximately 60 wt.%) was released during the first 1.5 months of activity. The measured chlorine and fluorine concentrations in the samples indicate that the atmospheric loading of hydrochloric acid and hydrofluoric acid was approximately 7.0 and 15.0 Mt, respectively. Furthermore, approximately 75% of the volatile mass dissolved by the Laki magma was released at the vents and carried by eruption columns to altitudes between 6 and 13 km. The high degree of degassing at the vents is attributed to development of a separated two-phase flow in the upper magma conduit, and implies that high-discharge basaltic eruptions such as Laki are able to loft huge quantities of gas to altitudes where the resulting aerosols can reside for months, or even 1-2 years. The atmospheric volatile contribution due to subsequent degassing of the Laki lava flow is only 18 wt.% of the total dissolved in the magma, and these emissions were confined to the lowest regions of the troposhere and therefore important only over Iceland. This study indicates that determination of the amount of sulfur degassed from the Laki magma batch by measurements of sulfur in the volcanic products (the petrologic method) yields a result which is sufficient to account for the mass of aerosols estimated by other methods
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Atomic structures of fibrillar segments of hIAPP suggest tightly mated β-sheets are important for cytotoxicity.
hIAPP fibrils are associated with Type-II Diabetes, but the link of hIAPP structure to islet cell death remains elusive. Here we observe that hIAPP fibrils are cytotoxic to cultured pancreatic β-cells, leading us to determine the structure and cytotoxicity of protein segments composing the amyloid spine of hIAPP. Using the cryoEM method MicroED, we discover that one segment, 19-29 S20G, forms pairs of β-sheets mated by a dry interface that share structural features with and are similarly cytotoxic to full-length hIAPP fibrils. In contrast, a second segment, 15-25 WT, forms non-toxic labile β-sheets. These segments possess different structures and cytotoxic effects, however, both can seed full-length hIAPP, and cause hIAPP to take on the cytotoxic and structural features of that segment. These results suggest that protein segment structures represent polymorphs of their parent protein and that segment 19-29 S20G may serve as a model for the toxic spine of hIAPP
Azimuthal Correlations in the Target Fragmentation Region of High Energy Nuclear Collisions
Results on the target mass dependence of proton and pion pseudorapidity
distributions and of their azimuthal correlations in the target rapidity range
are presented. The data have been taken with the
Plastic-Ball detector set-up for 4.9 GeV p + Au collisions at the Berkeley
BEVALAC and for 200 GeV/ p-, O-, and S-induced reactions on
different nuclei at the CERN-SPS. The yield of protons at backward rapidities
is found to be proportional to the target mass. Although protons show a typical
``back-to-back'' correlations, a ``side-by-side'' correlation is observed for
positive pions, which increases both with target mass and with impact parameter
of a collision. The data can consistently be described by assuming strong
rescattering phenomena including pion absorption effects in the entire excited
target nucleus.Comment: 7 pages, figures included, complete postscript available at
ftp://qgp.uni-muenster.de/pub/paper/azi-correlations.ps submitted to Phys.
Lett.
Interferometry of Direct Photons in Central 280Pb+208Pb Collisions at 158A GeV
Two-particle correlations of direct photons were measured in central
208Pb+208Pb collisions at 158 AGeV. The invariant interferometric radii were
extracted for 100<K_T<300 MeV/c and compared to radii extracted from charged
pion correlations. The yield of soft direct photons, K_T<300 MeV/c, was
extracted from the correlation strength and compared to theoretical
calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Event-by-Event Fluctuations in Particle Multiplicities and Transverse Energy Produced in 158.A GeV Pb+Pb collisions
Event-by-event fluctuations in the multiplicities of charged particles and
photons, and the total transverse energy in 158 GeV Pb+Pb collisions
are studied for a wide range of centralities. For narrow centrality bins the
multiplicity and transverse energy distributions are found to be near perfect
Gaussians. The effect of detector acceptance on the multiplicity fluctuations
has been studied and demonstrated to follow statistical considerations. The
centrality dependence of the charged particle multiplicity fluctuations in the
measured data has been found to agree reasonably well with those obtained from
a participant model. However for photons the multiplicity fluctuations has been
found to be lower compared to those obtained from a participant model. The
multiplicity and transverse energy fluctuations have also been compared to
those obtained from the VENUS event generator.Comment: To appear in Physical Review C; changes : more detailed discussion on
errors and few figures modifie
Genome-wide mapping of Myc binding and gene regulation in serum-stimulated fibroblasts
The transition from quiescence to proliferation is a key regulatory step that can be induced by serum stimulation in cultured fibroblasts. The transcription factor Myc is directly induced by serum mitogens and drives a secondary gene expression program that remains largely unknown. Using mRNA profiling, we identify close to 300 Myc-dependent serum response (MDSR) genes, which are induced by serum in a Myc-dependent manner in mouse fibroblasts. Mapping of genomic Myc-binding sites by ChIP-seq technology revealed that most MDSR genes were directly targeted by Myc, but represented a minor fraction (5.5%) of all Myc-bound promoters (which were 22.4% of all promoters). Other target loci were either induced by serum in a Myc-independent manner, were not significantly regulated or were negatively regulated. MDSR gene products were involved in a variety of processes, including nucleotide biosynthesis, ribosome biogenesis, DNA replication and RNA control. Of the 29 MDSR genes targeted by RNA interference, three showed a requirement for cell-cycle entry upon serum stimulation and 11 for long-term proliferation and/or survival. Hence, proper coordination of key regulatory and biosynthetic pathways following mitogenic stimulation relies upon the concerted regulation of multiple Myc-dependent genes
Centrality Dependence of Neutral Pion Production in 158 A GeV Pb + Pb Collisions
The production of neutral pions in 158AGeV Pb+Pb collisions has been studied
in the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. Transverse momentum spectra are studied
for the range 0.3 GeV/c < mT-m0 < 4.0 GeV/c. The results for central collisions
are compared to various models. The centrality dependence of the neutral pion
spectral shape and yield is investigated. An invariance of the spectral shape
and a simple scaling of the yield with the number of participating nucleons is
observed for centralities with greater than about 30 participating nucleons
which is most naturally explained by assuming an equilibrated system.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, including 3 eps figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.Lett;
updated pQCD comparison due to new input from the author, updated references,
corrected plotting error in figure
Measurement of the mid-rapidity transverse energy distribution from GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC
The first measurement of energy produced transverse to the beam direction at
RHIC is presented. The mid-rapidity transverse energy density per participating
nucleon rises steadily with the number of participants, closely paralleling the
rise in charged-particle density, such that E_T / N_ch remains relatively
constant as a function of centrality. The energy density calculated via
Bjorken's prescription for the 2% most central Au+Au collisions at
sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV is at least epsilon_Bj = 4.6 GeV/fm^3 which is a factor of
1.6 larger than found at sqrt(s_NN)=17.2 GeV (Pb+Pb at CERN).Comment: 307 authors, 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to PRL 4/18/2001;
revised version submitted to PRL 5/24/200
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