University of Maryland, Baltimore County

About: University of Maryland, Baltimore County is a education organization based out in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 8749 authors who have published 20843 publications receiving 795706 citations. The organization is also known as: UMBC.

Suomi NPP CrIS measurements, sensor data record algorithm, calibration and validation activities, and record data quality

Abstract: [1] The Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) is a Fourier Transform Michelson interferometer instrument launched on board the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite on 28 October 2011. CrIS provides measurements of Earth view interferograms in three infrared spectral bands at 30 cross-track positions, each with a 3 × 3 array of field of views. The CrIS ground processing software transforms the measured interferograms into calibrated and geolocated spectra in the form of Sensor Data Records (SDRs) that cover spectral bands from 650 to 1095 cm−1, 1210 to 1750 cm−1, and 2155 to 2550 cm−1 with spectral resolutions of 0.625 cm−1, 1.25 cm−1, and 2.5 cm−1, respectively. During the time since launch a team of subject matter experts from government, academia, and industry has been engaged in postlaunch CrIS calibration and validation activities. The CrIS SDR product is defined by three validation stages: Beta, Provisional, and Validated. The product reached Beta and Provisional validation stages on 19 April 2012 and 31 January 2013, respectively. For Beta and Provisional SDR data, the estimated absolute spectral calibration uncertainty is less than 3 ppm in the long-wave and midwave bands, and the estimated 3 sigma radiometric uncertainty for all Earth scenes is less than 0.3 K in the long-wave band and less than 0.2 K in the midwave and short-wave bands. The geolocation uncertainty for near nadir pixels is less than 0.4 km in the cross-track and in-track directions.

Fermi LAT Observations of LS I +61 303: First Detection of an Orbital Modulation in GeV Gamma Rays

Abstract: This Letter presents the first results from the observations of LS I +61°303 using Large Area Telescope data from the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope between 2008 August and 2009 March. Our results indicate variability that is consistent with the binary period, with the emission being modulated at 26.6 ± 0.5 days. This constitutes the first detection of orbital periodicity in high-energy gamma rays (20 MeV-100 GeV, HE). The light curve is characterized by a broad peak after periastron, as well as a smaller peak just before apastron. The spectrum is best represented by a power law with an exponential cutoff, yielding an overall flux above 100 MeV of 0.82 ± 0.03(stat) ± 0.07(syst) 10–6 ph cm–2 s–1, with a cutoff at 6.3 ± 1.1(stat) ± 0.4(syst) GeV and photon index Γ = 2.21 ± 0.04(stat) ± 0.06(syst). There is no significant spectral change with orbital phase. The phase of maximum emission, close to periastron, hints at inverse Compton scattering as the main radiation mechanism. However, previous very high-energy gamma ray (>100 GeV, VHE) observations by MAGIC and VERITAS show peak emission close to apastron. This and the energy cutoff seen with Fermi suggest that the link between HE and VHE gamma rays is nontrivial.

Simultaneous X-ray and UV spectroscopy of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548 - II. Physical conditions in the X-ray absorber

Abstract: We present the results from a 500 ks Chandra observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548. We detect broadened (full width half maximum = 8000 km s −1 ) emission lines of O  and C  in the spectra, similar to those observed in the optical and UV bands. The source was continuously variable, with a 30% increase in luminosity in the second half of the observation. The gradual increase in luminosity occurred over a timescale of ∼300 ks. No variability in the warm absorber was detected between the spectra from the first 170 ks and the second part of the observation. The longer wavelength range of the LETGS resulted in the detection of absorption lines from a broad range of ions, in particular of C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S and Fe. The velocity structure of the X-ray absorber is consistent with the velocity structure measured simultaneously in the ultraviolet spectra. We find that the highest velocity outflow component, at −1040 km s −1 , becomes increasingly important for higher ionization parameters. This velocity component spans at least three orders of magnitude in ionization parameter, producing both highly ionized X-ray absorption lines (Mg  ,S i) as well as UV absorption lines. A similar conclusion is very probable for the other four velocity components. Based upon our observations, we argue that the warm absorber probably does not manifest itself in the form of photoionized clumps in pressure equilibrium with a surrounding wind. Instead, a model with a continuous distribution of column density versus ionization parameter gives an excellent fit to our data. From the shape of this distribution and the assumption that the mass loss through the wind should be smaller than the accretion rate onto the black hole, we derive upper limits to the solid angle as small as 10 −4 sr. From this we argue that the outflow occurs in density-stratified streamers. The density stratification across the stream then produces the wide range of ionization parameter observed in this source. We determine an upper limit of 0.3 Myr −1 for the mass loss from the galaxy due to the observed outflows.

A resistance gene product of the nucleotide binding site -- leucine rich repeats class can form a complex with bacterial avirulence proteins in vivo

Abstract: Resistance (R) genes in plants mediate gene-for-gene disease resistance. The ligand-receptor model, which explains the gene-for-gene specificity, predicts a physical interaction between an elicitor, which is directly or indirectly encoded by an avirulence (avr) gene in the pathogen, and the corresponding R gene product. The nucleotide binding site (NBS) - leucine rich repeats (LRR) class of R genes is the largest known class of R genes. Here we report that an NBS-LRR R protein and its cognate Avr protein form a complex together in the plant cell. The Arabidopsis thaliana R genes RPS2 and RPM1 confer gene-for-gene disease resistance to strains of the phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae carrying the avr genes avrRpt2 and avrB, respectively. Using transient expression of these genes in Arabidopsis leaf mesophyll protoplasts, we first demonstrated that the protoplast system is appropriate for the investigation of the gene-for-gene recognition mechanism. Formation of an in vivo complex containing the RPS2 and AvrRpt2 proteins was demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation of the proteins following expression of the genes in protoplasts. This complex contained at least one additional plant protein of approximately 75 kDa. Unexpectedly, RPS2 also formed a complex with AvrB. We speculate that complex formation between AvrRpt2 and RPS2 is productive and leads to the elicitation of the resistance response, whilst complex formation between AvrB and RPS2 is unproductive and possibly competes with complex formation between AvrRpt2 and RPS2.

The engineering of binding affinity at metal ion binding sites for the stabilization of proteins: subtilisin as a test case.

Abstract: A weak Ca/sup 2 +/ binding site in the bacterial serine protease subtilisin BPN' was chosen as a model to explore the feasibility of stabilizing a protein by increasing the binding affinity at a metal ion binding site. The existence of this weak Ca/sup 2 +/ binding site was first discovered through a study of the rate of thermal inactivation of wild-type subtilisin BPN' at 65/degrees/C as a function of the free (Ca/sup 2 +/). Increasing the (Ca/sup 2 +/) in the range of 0.10-100 mM caused a 100-fold decrease in the rate of thermal inactivation. The data were found to closely fit a theoretical titration curve for a single Ca/sup 2 +/ specific binding site with an apparent log K/sub a/ = 1.49. A series of refined X-ray crystal structures of subtilisin in the presence of 0.0, 25.0, and 40.0 mM CaCl/sub 2/ has allowed a detailed structural characterization of this Ca/sup 2 +/ binding site. Negatively charged side chains were introduced in the vicinity of the bound Ca/sup 2 +/ by changing Pro 172 and Gly 131 to Asp residues through site-directed and random mutagenesis techniques, respectively. These changes were found to increase the affinity of the Ca/supmore » 2 +/ binding site by 3.4- and 2-fold, respectively, when compared with the wild-type protein. X-ray studies of these new variants of subtilisin revealed the carboxylate side chains to be 6.8 and 13.2 /Angstrom/, respectively, from the bound Ca/sup 2 +/. These distances and the degree of enhanced binding are consistent with simple electrostatic theory. Moreover, when both Asp changes were introduced together, the binding affinity for Ca/sup 2 +/ was found to be increased about 6-fold over that for the wild-type protein, suggesting an independent and nearly additive effect on the total electrostatic potential at this locus.« less