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At least 829 records · Page 46

Microwave Satellite Data for Hydrologic Modeling in Ungauged Basins

An innovative flood-prediction framework is developed using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation forcing and a proxy for river discharge from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) onboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aqua satellite. The AMSR-E-detected water surface signal was correlated with in situ measurements of streamflow in the Okavango Basin in Southern Africa as indicated by a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.90. A distributed hydrologic model, with structural data sets derived from remote-sensing data, was calibrated to yield simulations matching the flood frequencies from the AMSR-E-detected water surface signal. Model performance during a validation period yielded a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.84. We concluded that remote-sensing data from microwave sensors could be used to supplement stream gauges in large sparsely gauged or ungauged basins to calibrate hydrologic models. Given the global availability of all required data sets, this approach can be potentially expanded to improve flood monitoring and prediction in sparsely gauged basins throughout the world

Distributed hydrologic modeling↗

Hybrid Grid Techniques for Propulsion Applications

During the past decade, computational simulation of fluid flow for propulsion activities has progressed significantly, and many notable successes have been reported in the literature. However, the generation of a high quality mesh for such problems has often been reported as a pacing item. Hence, much effort has been expended to speed this portion of the simulation process. Several approaches have evolved for grid generation. Two of the most common are structured multi-block, and unstructured based procedures. Structured grids tend to be computationally efficient, and have high aspect ratio cells necessary for efficently resolving viscous layers. Structured multi-block grids may or may not exhibit grid line continuity across the block interface. This relaxation of the continuity constraint at the interface is intended to ease the grid generation process, which is still time consuming. Flow solvers supporting non-contiguous interfaces require specialized interpolation procedures which may not ensure conservation at the interface. Unstructured or generalized indexing data structures offer greater flexibility, but require explicit connectivity information and are not easy to generate for three dimensional configurations. In addition, unstructured mesh based schemes tend to be less efficient and it is difficult to resolve viscous layers. Recently hybrid or generalized element solution and grid generation techniques have been developed with the objective of combining the attractive features of both structured and unstructured techniques. In the present work, recently developed procedures for hybrid grid generation and flow simulation are critically evaluated, and compared to existing structured and unstructured procedures in terms of accuracy and computational requirements.

Koomullil, Roy P.↗

SureTrak Probability of Impact Display

The SureTrak Probability of Impact Display software was developed for use during rocket launch operations. The software displays probability of impact information for each ship near the hazardous area during the time immediately preceding the launch of an unguided vehicle. Wallops range safety officers need to be sure that the risk to humans is below a certain threshold during each use of the Wallops Flight Facility Launch Range. Under the variable conditions that can exist at launch time, the decision to launch must be made in a timely manner to ensure a successful mission while not exceeding those risk criteria. Range safety officers need a tool that can give them the needed probability of impact information quickly, and in a format that is clearly understandable. This application is meant to fill that need. The software is a reuse of part of software developed for an earlier project: Ship Surveillance Software System (S4). The S4 project was written in C++ using Microsoft Visual Studio 6. The data structures and dialog templates from it were copied into a new application that calls the implementation of the algorithms from S4 and displays the results as needed. In the S4 software, the list of ships in the area was received from one local radar interface and from operators who entered the ship information manually. The SureTrak Probability of Impact Display application receives ship data from two local radars as well as the SureTrak system, eliminating the need for manual data entry.

Elliott, John↗

Newly Released TRMM Version 7 Products, Other Precipitation Datasets and Data Services at NASA GES DISC

The NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC) is home of global precipitation product archives, in particular, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) products. TRMM is a joint U.S.-Japan satellite mission to monitor tropical and subtropical (40 S - 40 N) precipitation and to estimate its associated latent heating. The TRMM satellite provides the first detailed and comprehensive dataset on the four dimensional distribution of rainfall and latent heating over vastly undersampled tropical and subtropical oceans and continents. The TRMM satellite was launched on November 27, 1997. TRMM data products are archived at and distributed by GES DISC. The newly released TRMM Version 7 consists of several changes including new parameters, new products, meta data, data structures, etc. For example, hydrometeor profiles in 2A12 now have 28 layers (14 in V6). New parameters have been added to several popular Level-3 products, such as, 3B42, 3B43. Version 2.2 of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) dataset has been added to the TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS; URL: http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas/), allowing online analysis and visualization without downloading data and software. The GPCP dataset extends back to 1979. Version 3 of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) monitoring product has been updated in TOVAS as well. The product provides global gauge-based monthly rainfall along with number of gauges per grid. The dataset begins in January 1986. To facilitate data and information access and support precipitation research and applications, we have developed a Precipitation Data and Information Services Center (PDISC; URL: http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/precipitation). In addition to TRMM, PDISC provides current and past observational precipitation data. Users can access precipitation data archives consisting of both remote sensing and in-situ observations. Users can use these data products to conduct a wide variety of activities, including case studies, model evaluation, uncertainty investigation, etc. To support Earth science applications, PDISC provides users near-real-time precipitation products over the Internet. At PDISC, users can access tools and software. Documentation, FAQ and assistance are also available. Other capabilities include: 1) Mirador (http://mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov/), a simplified interface for searching, browsing, and ordering Earth science data at NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC). Mirador is designed to be fast and easy to learn; 2)TOVAS; 3) NetCDF data download for the GIS community; 4) Data via OPeNDAP (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/services/opendap/). The OPeNDAP provides remote access to individual variables within datasets in a form usable by many tools, such as IDV, McIDAS-V, Panoply, Ferret and GrADS; 5) The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Map Service (WMS) (http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/services/wxs_ogc.shtml). The WMS is an interface that allows the use of data and enables clients to build customized maps with data coming from a different network.

Liu, Zhong↗

BDDs for Representing Data in Runtime Verification

A BDD (Boolean Decision Diagram) is a data structure for the compact representation of a Boolean function. It is equipped with efficient algorithms for minimization and for applying Boolean operators. The use of BDDs for representing Boolean functions, combined with symbolic algorithms, facilitated a leap in the capability of model checking for the verification of systems with a huge number of states. Recently BDDs were considered as an efficient representation of data for Runtime Verification (RV). We review here the basic theory of BDDs and summarize their use in model checking and specifically in runtime verification.

Peled, Doron↗

Allosteric modulation of nucleoporin assemblies by intrinsically disordered regions

Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) of proteins are implicated in key macromolecular interactions. However, the molecular forces underlying IDR function within multicomponent assemblies remain elusive. By combining thermodynamic and structural data, we have discovered an allostery-based mechanism regulating the soluble core region of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) composed of nucleoporins Nup53, Nic96, and Nup157. We have identified distinct IDRs in Nup53 that are functionally coupled when binding to partner nucleoporins and karyopherins (Kaps) involved in NPC assembly and nucleocytoplasmic transport. We show that the Nup53·Kap121 complex forms an ensemble of structures that destabilize Nup53 hub interactions. Our study provides a molecular framework for understanding how disordered and folded domains communicate within macromolecular complexes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

GraphAlign: Graph-Enabled Machine Learning for Seismic Event Filtering

This report summarizes results from a 2 year effort to improve the current automated seismic event processing system by leveraging machine learning models that can operated over the inherent graph data structure of a seismic sensor network. Specifically, the GraphAlign project seeks to utilize prior information on which stations are more likely to detect signals originating from particular geographic regions to inform event filtering. To date, the GraphAlign team has developed a Graphical Neural Network (GNN) model to filter out false events generated by the Global Associator (GA) algorithm. The algorithm operates directly on waveform data that has been associated to an event by building a variable sized graph of station waveforms nodes with edge relations to an event location node. This builds off of previous work where random forest models were used to do the same task using hand crafted features. The GNN model performance was analyzed using an 8 week IMS/IDC dataset, and it was demonstrated that the GNN outperforms the random forest baseline. We provide additional error analysis of which events the GNN model performs well and poorly against concluded by future directions for improvements.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

pyCRTM: A Python Interface for the Community Radiative Transfer Model

The Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) is a powerful and versatile scalar radiative transfer model for satellite data assimilation and remote sensing applications. It is implemented as an object-oriented Fortran library, enabling flexible code development and optimal runtime performance on clusters. The downsides of the Fortran interface are a steep learning curve for students and the reduced productivity of users that is typical for static compiled languages, in contrast to dynamic interpreted languages like Python. pyCRTM is a new software framework that directly interfaces the CRTM Fortran data structures and procedures in Python, leveraging both the simplicity and ease of use of Python syntax as well as the flexibility arising from the vast contemporary Python ecosystem. The goal of pyCRTM is to lower the barrier of entry for university students to learn and use the CRTM and to boost the productivity of researchers seeking to create new methods in radiative transfer and data assimilation, or seeking to apply the CRTM to study atmospheric phenomena without having to go through the pre-existing complexity of the CRTM Fortran interface.

Python↗

Mechanistic Basis for Ribosomal Peptide Backbone Modifications

YcaO enzymes are known to catalyze the ATP-dependent formation of azoline heterocycles, thioamides, and (macro)lactamidines on peptide substrates. These enzymes are found in multiple biosynthetic pathways, including those for several different classes of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). However, there are major knowledge gaps in the mechanistic and structural underpinnings that govern each of the known YcaO-mediated modifications. Here, we present the first structure of any YcaO enzyme bound to its peptide substrate in the active site, specifically that from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii which is involved in the thioamidation of the α-subunit of methyl-coenzyme M reductase (McrA). The structural data are leveraged to identify and test the residues involved in substrate binding and catalysis by site-directed mutagenesis. We also show that thioamide-forming YcaOs can carry out the cyclodehydration of a related peptide substrate, which underscores the mechanistic conservation across the YcaO family and allows for the extrapolation of mechanistic details to azoline-forming YcaOs involved in RiPP biosynthesis. A bioinformatic survey of all YcaOs highlights the diverse sequence space in azoline-forming YcaOs and suggests their early divergence from a common ancestor. The data presented within provide a detailed molecular framework for understanding this family of enzymes, which reconcile several decades of prior data on RiPP cyclodehydratases. These studies also provide the foundational knowledge to impact our mechanistic understanding of additional RiPP biosynthetic classes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Evaluating Mineral Lattices as Evolutionary Proxies for Metalloprotein Evolution

Protein coordinated iron-sulfur clusters drive electron flow within metabolic pathways for organisms throughout the tree of life. It is not known how iron-sulfur clusters were first incorporated into proteins. Structural analogies to iron-sulfde minerals present on early Earth, suggest a connection in the evolution of both proteins and minerals. The availability of large protein and mineral crystallographic structure data sets, provides an opportunity to explore co-evolution of proteins and minerals on a large-scale using informatics approaches. However, quantitative comparisons are confounded by the infnite, repeating nature of the mineral lattice, in contrast to metal clusters in proteins, which are fnite in size. We address this problem using the Niggli reduction to transform a mineral lattice to a fnite, unique structure that when translated reproduces the crystal lattice. Protein and reduced mineral structures were represented as quotient graphs with the edges and nodes corresponding to bonds and atoms, respectively. We developed a graph theory-based method to calculate the maximum common connected edge subgraph (MCCES) between mineral and protein quotient graphs. MCCES can accommodate differences in structural volumes and easily allows additional chemical criteria to be considered when calculating similarity. To account for graph size differences, we use the Tversky similarity index. Using consistent criteria, we found little similarity between putative ancient iron-sulfur protein clusters and iron-sulfur mineral lattices, suggesting these metal sites are not as evolutionarily connected as once thought. We discuss possible evolutionary implications of these findings in addition to suggesting an alternative proxy, mineral surfaces, for better understanding the coevolution of the geosphere and biosphere

Kenneth N. McGuinness↗

A high-throughput data analysis and materials discovery tool for strongly correlated materials

Abstract Modeling of f -electron systems is challenging due to the complex interplay of the effects of spin–orbit coupling, electron–electron interactions, and the hybridization of the localized f -electrons with itinerant conduction electrons. This complexity drives not only the richness of electronic properties but also makes these materials suitable for diverse technological applications. In this context, we propose and implement a data-driven approach to aid the materials discovery process. By deploying state-of-the-art algorithms and query tools, we train our learning models using a large, simulated dataset based on existing actinide and lanthanide compounds. The machine-learned models so obtained can then be used to search for new classes of stable materials with desired electronic and physical properties. We discuss the basic structure of our f -electron database, and our approach towards cleaning and correcting the structure data files. Illustrative examples of the applications of our database include successful prediction of stable superstructures of double perovskites and identification of a number of physically-relevant trends in strongly correlated features of f -electron based materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Integrated circuit test-port architecture and method and apparatus of test-port generation

A method and apparatus are provided for generating RTL code for a test-port interface of an integrated circuit. In an embodiment, a test-port table is provided as input data. A computer automatically parses the test-port table into data structures and analyzes it to determine input, output, local, and output-enable port names. The computer generates address-detect and test-enable logic constructed from combinational functions. The computer generates one-hot multiplexer logic for at least some of the output ports. The one-hot multiplexer logic for each port is generated so as to enable the port to toggle between data signals and test signals. The computer then completes the generation of the RTL code.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Mars - Crustal structure inferred from Bouguer gravity anomalies.

Bouguer gravity has been computed for the equatorial region of Mars by differencing free air gravity and the gravity predicted from topographic variations. The free air gravity was generated from an eighth-order set of spherical harmonic coefficients. The gravity from topographic variations was generated by integrating a two-dimensional Green's function over each contour level. The Bouguer gravity indicates crustal inhomogeneities on Mars that are postulated to be variations in crustal thickness. The Tharsis ridge is a region of thick continental type crust. The gravity data, structural patterns, topography, and surface geology of this region lead to the interpretation of the Tharsis topographic high as a broad crustal upwarp possibly associated with local formation of lower-density crustal material and subsequent rise of a thicker crust. The Amazonis region is one of several basins of relatively thin crust, analogous to terrestrial ocean basins. The Libya and Hellas basins, which are probable impact features, are also underlain by thin crust and are possible regions of mantle upwelling.

Phillips, R. J.↗

Formylglycine-generating enzyme binds substrate directly at a mononuclear Cu(I) center to initiate O 2 activation

The formylglycine-generating enzyme (FGE) is required for the posttranslational activation of type I sulfatases by oxidation of an active-site cysteine to C α -formylglycine. FGE has emerged as an enabling biotechnology tool due to the robust utility of the aldehyde product as a bioconjugation handle in recombinant proteins. Here, we show that Cu(I)–FGE is functional in O 2 activation and reveal a high-resolution X-ray crystal structure of FGE in complex with its catalytic copper cofactor. We establish that the copper atom is coordinated by two active-site cysteine residues in a nearly linear geometry, supporting and extending prior biochemical and structural data. The active cuprous FGE complex was interrogated directly by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. These data unambiguously establish the configuration of the resting enzyme metal center and, importantly, reveal the formation of a three-coordinate tris(thiolate) trigonal planar complex upon substrate binding as furthermore supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Critically, inner-sphere substrate coordination turns on O 2 activation at the copper center. These collective results provide a detailed mechanistic framework for understanding why nature chose this structurally unique monocopper active site to catalyze oxidase chemistry for sulfatase activation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

The data acquisition system for the Anglo-Australian Observatory 2-degree field project

The Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO) is building a system that will provide a two-degree field of view at prime focus. A robot positioner will be used to locate up to 400 optical fibers at pre-determined positions in this field. While observations are being made using one set of 400 fibers, the robot will be positioning a second set of fibers in a background field that can be moved in to replace the first when the telescope is moved to a new position. The fibers feed two spectrographs each with a 1024 square CCD detector. The software system being produced to control this involves Vaxes for overall control and data recording, UNIX workstations for fiber configuration calculations and on-line data reduction, and VME systems running VxWorks for real-time control of critical parts such as the positioner robot. The system has to be able to interact with the observatory's present data acquisition systems, which use the ADAM system. As yet, the real-time parts of ADAM have not been ported to Unix, and so we are having to produce a smaller-scale system that is similar but inherently distributed (which ADAM is not). We are using this system as a testbed for ideas that we hope may eventually influence an ADAM II system. The system we are producing is based on a message system that is designed to be able to handle inter-process and inter-processor messages of any length, efficiently, and without ever requiring a task to block (i.e., be unresponsive to 'cancel' messages, enquiry messages), other than when deliberately waiting for external input - all of which will be through such messages. The essential requirement is that a message 'send' operation should never be able to block. The messages will be hierarchical, self-defining, machine-independent data structures. This allows us to provide very simple monitoring of messages for diagnostic purposes, and allows general purpose interface programs to be written without needing to share precise byte by byte message format definitions. Programs in this system have interfaces defined simply in terms of named actions and their parameters. Real-time control programs are required to be able to handle a number of such actions concurrently; data reduction programs will normally only need to handle one action at a time ('process an image', 'display a spectrum', etc).

Shortridge, K.↗

Structures of chaperone-substrate complexes docked onto the export gate in a type III secretion system

The flagellum and the injectisome enable bacterial locomotion and pathogenesis, respectively. These nanomachines assemble and function using a type III secretion system (T3SS). Exported proteins are delivered to the export apparatus by dedicated cytoplasmic chaperones for their transport through the membrane. The structural and mechanistic basis of this process is poorly understood. Here we report the structures of two ternary complexes among flagellar chaperones (FliT and FliS), protein substrates (the filament-capping FliD and flagellin FliC), and the export gate platform protein FlhA. The substrates do not interact directly with FlhA; however, they are required to induce a binding-competent conformation to the chaperone that exposes the recognition motif featuring a highly conserved sequence recognized by FlhA. The structural data reveal the recognition signal in a class of T3SS proteins and provide new insight into the assembly of key protein complexes at the export gate.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Potential energy surface of triplet N{sub 2}O{sub 2}

We present a global ground-state triplet potential energy surface for the N{sub 2}O{sub 2} system that is suitable for treating high-energy vibrational-rotational energy transfer and collision-induced dissociation. The surface is based on multi-state complete-active-space second-order perturbation theory/minimally augmented correlation-consistent polarized valence triple-zeta electronic structure calculations plus dynamically scaled external correlation. In the multireference calculations, the active space has 14 electrons in 12 orbitals. The calculations cover nine arrangements corresponding to dissociative diatom-diatom collisions of N{sub 2}, O{sub 2}, and nitric oxide (NO), the interaction of a triatomic molecule (N{sub 2}O and NO{sub 2}) with the fourth atom, and the interaction of a diatomic molecule with a single atom (i.e., the triatomic subsystems). The global ground-state potential energy surface was obtained by fitting the many-body interaction to 54 889 electronic structure data points with a fitting function that is a permutationally invariant polynomial in terms of bond-order functions of the six interatomic distances.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗