A Pluto-like radius and a high albedo for the dwarf planet Eris from an occultation

The dwarf planet Eris is a trans-Neptunian object with an orbital eccentricity of 0.44, an inclination of 44 degrees and a surface composition very similar to that of Pluto. It resides at present at 95.7 astronomical units (1?AU is the Earth-Sun distance) from Earth, near its aphelion and more than three times farther than Pluto. Owing to this great distance, measuring its size or detecting a putative atmosphere is difficult. Here we report the observation of a multi-chord stellar occultation by Eris on 6 November 2010 UT. The event is consistent with a spherical shape for Eris, with radius 1,163?±?6?kilometres, density 2.52?±?0.05 grams per cm(3) and a high visible geometric albedo, Pv = 0.96(+0.09)(-0.04). No nitrogen, argon or methane atmospheres are detected with surface pressure larger than ～1?nanobar, about 10,000 times more tenuous than Pluto's present atmosphere. As Pluto's radius is estimated to be between 1,150 and 1,200 kilometres, Eris appears as a Pluto twin, with a bright surface possibly caused by a collapsed atmosphere, owing to its cold environment. We anticipate that this atmosphere may periodically sublimate as Eris approaches its perihelion, at 37.8 astronomical units from the Sun.     

Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation

Atmospheric aerosols exert an important influence on climate through their effects on stratiform cloud albedo and lifetime and the invigoration of convective storms. Model calculations suggest that almost half of the global cloud condensation nuclei in the atmospheric boundary layer may originate from the nucleation of aerosols from trace condensable vapours, although the sensitivity of the number of cloud condensation nuclei to changes of nucleation rate may be small. Despite extensive research, fundamental questions remain about the nucleation rate of sulphuric acid particles and the mechanisms responsible, including the roles of galactic cosmic rays and other chemical species such as ammonia. Here we present the first results from the CLOUD experiment at CERN. We find that atmospherically relevant ammonia mixing ratios of 100 parts per trillion by volume, or less, increase the nucleation rate of sulphuric acid particles more than 100-1,000-fold. Time-resolved molecular measurements reveal that nucleation proceeds by a base-stabilization mechanism involving the stepwise accretion of ammonia molecules. Ions increase the nucleation rate by an additional factor of between two and more than ten at ground-level galactic-cosmic-ray intensities, provided that the nucleation rate lies below the limiting ion-pair production rate. We find that ion-induced binary nucleation of H(2)SO(4)-H(2)O can occur in the mid-troposphere but is negligible in the boundary layer. However, even with the large enhancements in rate due to ammonia and ions, atmospheric concentrations of ammonia and sulphuric acid are insufficient to account for observed boundary-layer nucleation.     

进化论的故乡

加拉帕戈斯群岛位于东太平洋,距离南美大陆约1000千米。群岛由大大小小19座岛屿和无数的岸礁组成,这些岛屿都是远古时代由海底火山喷发出的岩浆堆积而成的火山岛。几百万年以来,许多动植物被洋流和季风由美洲、加勒比海和南极送往这座群岛,与世隔绝地在不同的岛屿上各自进化。19世纪30年代,达尔文曾上岛研究这些独特的动植物,这对他后来提出进化论起到了重大影响。因此,加拉帕戈斯群岛被誉为“进化论的故乡”。进化论的故乡~~     

Displacement Discontinuity Method in 3D Problems of Fracture Mechanics

The present paper suggests a modification of boundary elements numerical method, which uses displacement discontinuity method in 3D space. The current method can effectively decrease the computational elements number in 3D space because final elements are placed only on the surface of a fracture simulating the discontinuity of elastic medium. Thus the dimension of the problem is decreased. The new fundamental solutions were developed based on double layer potentials. The method proved to be effective for hydraulic fractures modeling and their interaction with natural faults in host rock formations.     

兰州原状黄土剪切强度特性的试验研究

对兰州原状黄土不同剪切方位、不同含水量试样进行了一系列常规三轴不固结不排水剪切试验研究.根据三轴剪切试验结果,分析了含水量和剪切方位对兰州黄土剪切强度参数的影响,得出原状黄土的粘聚力和内摩擦角并不是一个常数,而是随着含水量和剪切方位的变化而变化的结论,解释了其影响原因,提出了粘聚力、内摩擦角与含水量的关系表达式.     

页岩结构完整性评价的热-流体-变形耦合理论与方法

该文应用连续介质力学理论建立了与蒸汽注入过程相关的热-流-变形耦合问题的基本数学模型;应用全隐式顺序Galerkin有限元数值解方案,对注蒸汽井的热-流体-变形耦合过程进行了数值模拟。结果表明,由于低渗透页岩地层流体高温膨胀导致的超高孔隙压力,有可能产生拉张应力,严重时会导致地层破裂。     

Tribbles: novel regulators of cell function; evolutionary aspects

Identification of rate-limiting steps or components of intracellular second messenger systems holds promise to effectively interfere with these pathways under pathological conditions. The emerging literature on a recently identified family of signalling regulator proteins, called tribbles gives interesting clues for how these proteins seem to link several ‘independent’ signal processing systems together. Via their unique way of action, tribbles co-ordinate the activation and suppression of the various interacting signalling pathways and therefore appear to be key in determining cell fate while responding to environmental challenges. This review summarises our current understanding of tribbles function and also provides an evolutionary perspective on the various tribbles genes. Received 10 January 2006; received after revision 20 March 2006; accepted 5 April 2006     

Structural characterization of two papaya chitinases, a family GH19 of glycosyl hydrolases

Two chitinases, able to use tetra-N-acetylglucosamine, chitin and chitosan as substrates, were characterized after purification from Carica papaya latex. The complete amino acid sequence of the major form and about 40% of the minor one were determined through proteolytic digestions and mass spectroscopy analysis. Sequencing demonstrated that both papaya chitinases are members of the family 19 of glycosyl hydrolases (GH19). Based on the known 3-D structures of other members of family GH19, it was expected that papaya chitinases would adopt all-alpha structures. However, circular dichroism and infrared spectroscopy indicated, for the papaya chitinases, a content of 15–20% of extended structures besides the expected 40% of alpha helices. Since the fully sequenced papaya chitinase contains a large number of proline residues the possibility that papaya chitinase contains polyproline II stretches was examined in the context of their resistance against proteolytic degradation. Received 11 July 2006; received after revision 13 October 2006; accepted 25 October 2006     

Snake venom components and their applications in biomedicine

Snake envenomation is a socio-medical problem of considerable magnitude. About 2.5 million people are bitten by snakes annually, more than 100,000 fatally. However, although bites can be deadly, snake venom is a natural biological resource that contains several components of potential therapeutic value. Venom has been used in the treatment of a variety of pathophysiological conditions in Ayurveda, homeopathy and folk medicine. With the advent of biotechnology, the efficacy of such treatments has been substantiated by purifying components of venom and delineating their therapeutic properties. This review will focus on certain snake venom components and their applications in health and disease. Received 6 July 2006; received after revision 14 August 2006; accepted 28 September 2006