MarylandWirt-2006.
Science questions by Ray Luo.
15/15 total.

5/5 biology

LIM kinase regulation of ADF-cofilin enhances its depolymerization.  Studied in Listeria monocytogenes, it is regulated by Rho protein family and guanine nucleotide exchange factors.  Containing ATPase folds complexed with magnesium, it is bound by CapZ and tropomodulin.  Profilin binds to its monomers while Arp2/3 directs its nucleation.  When its elongation is inhibited by cytochalasin, it exists in a monomeric G form, as opposed to the filamentous F form.  Gelsolin mediates the severing in amoeba of, FTP this polymer found in microvilli and skeletal muscles, a component of the cytoskeleton that interacts with myosin.
	:. actin; or microfilament

RGS accelerates hydrolysis of one of its subunits, whose dissociation can be studied with fluorescent energy transfer labeling.  It interacts with the C3 and sometimes C2 loop near H3 and H5 of 7 transmembrane alpha-helical receptors, which serve as its nucleotide exchange factors.  Its alpha-3-beta-5 loop and switch II bind to a domain of adenylyl cyclase to allow rotation of its other catalytic domain.  Divided into stimulatory and inhibitory types depending on binding to beta-adrenergic vs. alpha-1-adrenergic receptor, its alpha subunit separates from beta-gamma subunits and activates cyclic AMP synthesis.  FTP name this type of protein that binds GTP.
	:. G protein; or GTPase

Dissipation by internal conversion in this process is prevented by the fixed orientation of pheophytin, which in purple bacteria connects directly to bilaterally symmetry menaquinone, which is attached to a nonheme iron and a diffusible quinone that undergoes the Q cycle with the bc1 complex, while cytochrome c2 returns to the RC found by Louis Duysens to bleach at 870 nm.  In green sulfur bacteria, excitons from antenna molecules causing charge separation in the 840 reaction center can cause flow into ferredoxin, which reduces NAD.  Taking place in chloroplasts, FTP a proton gradient is used to generate ATP in this first set of reactions in photosynthesis.
	:. photophosphorylation; or light reactions; prompt on "photosynthesis"

The latter part of this process is accomplished by a complex of Rfc and homotrimeric 6-lobbed Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen, which has a central hole and prevents dissociation while the delta version of its characteristic protein is bound.  Its substrate is bound to the beta strands of RPA after being sequestered by 6 homologous MCM proteins.  Primase, then pol-alpha synthesize an RNA primer that is extended by the less error-prone pol delta.  Occurring bidirectionally after topoisomerase removes torsional stress caused by local unwinding, it seals Okazaki fragments with ligase for the lagging strand.  FTP name this process of DNA duplication.
	:. DNA replication

Its GABAergic bistratified and basket interneurons mediate non-synapse specific iLTD.  It receives input from the cortex via the perforant pathway, which excites granule cells of the dentate gyrus, which in turn project to its CA3 region via mossy fibers.  Its Schaffer collaterals connect CA3 and CA1 regions, where presynaptic tetanus along with postsynaptic depolarization cause NMDA receptor-mediated long term potentiation.  Its role in fear conditioning is mediated by its subiculum's connection to lateral nucleus of amygdala, and its lesion in the patient H. M. caused the failure to encode episodic memory.  FTP name this seahorse-shaped brain structure involved in learning.
	:. hippocampus

The lack of these cyclic, two-state proteins causes genetic vectors to produce insoluble products.  FTPE.
(10)  Name these proteins that include heat shock protein 70, which protects unfolded polypeptides, and heptameric barrel-shaped structures that promote protein folding.
	:. chaperones; accept chaperonins even though it refers only to the latter type
(10)  The Hsp chaperones bind to short peptides at these localized regions, named for the fact that they make up the interior of proteins that doesn't interact with water.
	:. hydrophobic residues
(10)  When the chaperonin GroEL binds to GroES, each of its 7 subunits moves its intermediate and apical domains inward against the equatorial domain, and exposes the hydrophilic residues to this caged interior named for a 1972 Nobel prize winner.
	:. Anfinsen cage

It is amide-linked to the gamma-amine of lysine arms on carboxylases, activating the CO_2 in bicarbonate, transferring it to pyruvate to form oxaloacetate.  FTPE.
(10)  Name this vitamin crucial in carboxylases whose deficiency is caused by excess consumption of raw egg whites, and results in diabetese mellitus and hair loss.
	:. biotin
(10)  Raw egg whites contain this protein which binds tightly to biotin and prevents its absorption in the intestine.
	:. avidin
(10)  The pyruvate decarboxylase reaction catalyzed by biotinyl enzymes are part of the anaplerotic, or replenishing reactions for this respiratory cycle, which needs oxaloacetate to combine with acetyl coA.
	:. citric acid cycle; or tricarboxylic acid cycle; or Krebs cycle

Name these concepts from non-Mendelian genetics.  FTPE.
(10)  Exemplified by the appearance of pink flowers in mating a red and white one, this is the generation of intermediate phenotype based on partial gene expression.
	:. incomplete dominance
(10)  Exemplified by human blood groups, this is the joint expression of two alleles in a heterozygote that both produce distinct gene products.
	:. codominance
(10)  In blood group antigens, this phenotype leads to the incomplete formation of the H substance precursor to antigens, so that while individuals carry A or B genes, they express the O antigen, an example of epistasis named for an Indian city.
	:. Bombay phenotype

Identify these types of bacteria.  FTPE.
(10)  The largest phylum of bacteria belongs to this, sometime called Purple Bacteria, with a diverse array of different means of metabolism.  It is the bacterial phylum most closely related to mitochondria.
	:. proteobacteria
(10)  The three earliest branching phyla of bacteria belong to this variety, which enjoy environments much hotter than ordinary.
	:. thermophiles
(10)  These bacteria usually live in an intermediate zone between oxygen rich surface and sulfur rich interior.  They can form fruiting bodies that form spores or cysts, but are named for their peculiar sliding movements.
	:. gliding bacteria

Root tissue.  FTPE.
(10)  Lying within the epidermis and the cortex is this innermost cell layer consisting of cells with walls containing waxy suberin that control the access of water into the inner tissues.
	:. endodermis
(10)  Within the endodermis is the vascular cambium, or stele, which consists of xylem, phloem, and this layer of undifferentiated cells from which branch roots arise, also promoting secondary growth.
	Ansewr: pericycle
(10)  In monocots, xylem and phloem surround this region of parenchyma cells, which in stems past the crown, form scattered vascular bundles, as distinguished from eponymous rays between vascular bundles in dicots.
	:. pith

4/4 chemistry

Under its namesake condition, Boyle's law is modified by a 7/5 exponent for diatomic gases.  In perturbation theory, it's a theorem that specifies when the system will stay in its instantaneous eigenstates.  An expansion of this type is responsible for the fog after bottle caps are removed, and is equivalent to an isothermal expansion followed by constant volume cooling.  Pressure times volume raised to the ratio of constant pressure and constant volume heat capacities is preserved, and work is equal to constant volume heat capacity times temperature change, or delta U.  Also naming a lapse rate in meteorology, FTP name this type of process with no heat flow.
	:. adiabatic process

This type of trans-selective reaction is stereospecific for E/Z stereoisomers depending on which diastereomer acts as substrate.  Possessing an anti transition state holding together a hydrogen and a leaving group, it proceeds in one-step to deprotonate an adjacent carbon, remove the leaving group, and rehybridize the reacting center from sp3 to sp2.  Favored when the nucleophile is sterically hindered, it takes place in strong bases.  Governed by Hofmann and Saytzev rules, it competes with SN2 in primary haloalkanes and with E1 in tertiary haloalkanes.  FTP name this 2nd-order reaction mechanism that turns a single bond to a double bond.
	:. bimolecular elimination; or E2

The Van Deemter equation is often applied to optimize for flow rate in this technique, one variant of which adds molecules that have specific affinity to the extract.  Applied to proteins, the size exclusion version uses carbohydrates with small pores that allow small proteins to enter but exclude large proteins, so that large proteins can pass through more quickly.  DEAE is often used as a positively charged group, an anion exchanger.  Carboxymethyl cellulose is used as a negatively charged group, a cation exchanger for charge separation.  FTP name this technique that uses receptor-bound beads to separate extracts moving downward in a tube.
	:. column chromatography; accept "chromatography" before "DEAE"

It aggregates around a hyaluronate backbone linking aggracan proteins attached to keratan and chondroitin sulfates.  Its integral variety consists of a syndecan transmembrane protein extracellularly bound to heparan sulfate, which binds to fibroblast growth factor that is presented to a membrane receptor.  The serine glycine X glycine sequence is the point of attachment of a trisaccharide bridge-attached glycosaminoglycan on a core protein, all of which together make up this macromolecular polymer of basal lamina.  FTP name this polysaccharide complex of the extracellular matrix, not to be confused with bacterial peptidoglycan.
	:. proteoglycan

Relationships in physical chemistry.  FTPE.
(10)  The dependence of G on T is quantified as the partial derivative of G over T with respect to T, which is equal to negative of the enthalpy over temperature squared, in this equation named for two forms of free energies.
	:. Gibbs-Helmholtz equation
(10)  By applying Euler's theorem to differentials of U, G, H, and A, we get these relations that link thermodynamic functions to P, V, and T.
	:. Maxwell relations
(10)  If T is the phase transition temperature, setting molar Gibbs energies equal for the two phases yields this equation, that dP/dT equals delta-H over T delta-V.
	:. Clausius-Clapeyron equation

Collagen fibers are crosslinked by converting adjacent lysine residues to aldehydes that undergo this type of reaction.  FTPE.
(10)  Name this condensation reaction catalyzed by hydroxide ion that produces an eliminizable beta-hydroxyaldehyde, whose common name identifies this reaction.
	:. aldol condensation
(10)  Aldol condensation involves the conversion of an aldehyde to one of these anions resulting from removal of an alpha hydrogen from a carbonyl compound.  It serves as an intermediate for the tautomers in a keto-enol equilibrium.
	:. enolate
(10)  Enolates also undergo conjugate additions to alpha-beta-unsaturated carbonyls in this addition reaction named for a Harvard chemist.  Together with intramolecular aldol condensation, it makes up a Robinson annulation.
	:. Michael addition

Atoms either align with the external field in the alpha state, or against it in the higher energy beta state.  When radio waves are applied, some of the alpha atoms flips to the beta state, and their relaxation back to alpha is recorded.  FTPE.
(10)  Name this spectroscopic technique that relies on the altered frequency of spins of atoms in a field induced by a superconducting liquid helium magnet.
	:. nuclear magnetic resonance; prompt on "MRI"
(10)  This compound is chosen as the standard against which peaks of protons in a molecule are measured, because its 12 equivalent hydrogens are well shielded.
	:. tetramethylsilane
(10)  Dependent on temperature and hydrogen-bonding, especially in alcohols and thiols, this value, measured in parts per million, is defined as the distance of peak from tetramethylsilane in hertz over spectrometer frequency in megahertz.
	:. chemical shift

Answer the following concerning monosaccharides.  FTPE.
(10)  D and L sugar stereoisomers are determined by comparing their carbon most distant from the carbonyl group to that of this simplest monosaccharide, an aldotriose with a terminal carbonyl and two hydroxyl groups.
	:. glyceraldehyde
(10)  Monosaccharides can be visualized unwound on this projective formalism, where horizonal bonds point out of the page and vertical bonds point behind.
	:. Fischer projection
(10)  These isomers of monosaccharides differ only in their configuration about the ring-forming hemiacetal or hemiketal carbon.  Their alpha and beta forms interconvert in solution by mutarotation.
	:. anomers

3/3 physics

It arises from shielding of inner unfilled subshells by filled outer subshells of, for example, the transition metals, and is attenuated by thermal motion.  The spero and heli types of this effect have no net magnetization, and a plot of M over M max against B over T shows an asymptote at low temperature.  Its magnetic susceptibility is inversely related to temperature, as stated by Curie's law, and ferromagnets exhibit it above the Curie point.  Magnetic permeability is greater than one for materials in this state, and dipoles align parallel with the magnetic field.  FTP name this type of magnetism caused by intrinsic dipoles, unlike diamagnetism.
	:. paramagnetism

J. D. Jackson showed that it can become bound to alpha particles, and Sakharov and Frank formulated its ability to catalyze fusion.  It has large isotope effects, and Richtmyer showed that it makes up half of the cosmic radiation.  It can decay into an electron or positron, plus various neutrinos, and can act as a nucleus when bound to an electron.  With a decay time of 2.2 microseconds, it was discovered by Neddermeyer and Anderson and mistakenly named a meson.  Product of the decay of charged pions, with which it was at first confused, it is more massive than the electron and less massive than the tauon.  FTP identify this lepton named for the 12th Greek alphabet.
	:. muon

It has been used to analyze Rutherford backscattering and dipole-dipole interactions in a 2D system of spheres, the latter using Tsallis threshold acceptance probability.  Based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, it explores arbitrary potential functions probabilistically, and takes nonminimizing steps in order to find the global minimum.  Introduced by Kirkpatrick and Cerny, it begins at high temperature, moves along the canonical distribution with transition probabilities of e to the negative 1 over T, and decreases the temperature over time.  FTP name this heuristic Monte Carlo method of statistical physics inspired by analogy with slow cooling in metallurgy.
	:. simulated annealing

For alkaline metals, it relates the wave number to its eponymous constant for the particular element times the difference between reciprocals of (m - 2) squared and (n - b) squared, where m, a, and b are fixed, and n are integers.  FTPE.
(10)  Name this formula that generalizes the hydrogen spectrum observations of Lyman, Balmer, and Paschen among others, named for a Swedish physicist.
	:. Rydberg formula
(10)  Rydberg's formula was extended by this physicist to spectra of all atoms.  He is also the namesake of variational approximations using linear combination of bases.
	:. Walter Ritz
(10)  This man tried to explain the hydrogen spectra by postulating quantized angular momentum, constant energy levels, and circular orbits of electrons around a nucleus.
	:. Niels Bohr

Answer the following about crystal systems.  FTPE.
(10)  When the 3rd layer is placed over the 1st in an alternate ABAB sequence, this closest-packed crystal system is generated, which fills 74% of the volume, just like face-centered cubic.  It is exemplified by cadmium and zinc crystals.
	:. hexagonal
(10)  This equation states that the 1st order diffraction maximum for beams reflected off a crystal occurs when 2 times the plane separation times sine of the angle of incidence is equal to the wavelength of the incident beam.
	:. Bragg equation
(10)  Similar to face-center cubic, this lattice has two atoms in two face-centered cubic lattices, with each one bonded to the four corners of a tetrahedron.
	:. diamond lattice

It occurs when liquid particles move parallel to a small tube, and the velocity gradient rises from 0 at the walls to a maximum at the center.  FTPE.
(10)  Name this type of fluid flow characterized by high viscosity and slow motion.
	:. laminar flow
(10)  Defined as 2R times the fluid velocity divided by the kinematic viscosity, this quantity predicts laminar flow at values below about 2000.
	:. Reynolds number
(10)  This relation gives the total volume flow as the product of pi, pressure, and tube radius to the 4th, divided by 8 times the product of dynamic viscosity and tube length, where the viscosity varies with temperature in Arrhenius terms.
	:. Hagen-Poiseuille equation

1/1 math

Karamata's lemma can be used to extend it to find domains of attraction, as stated by Feller and Khinchin.  Proved by Taylor expansion of a characteristic function, as done by Levy and Lindeberg, it is stated by Lyapunov using cubic and square roots involving a sequence of random variables.  It can be generalized to martingales, and can be restated in terms of convolution of densities of independent variables as the number of density functions increases.  Given variables of finite mean and variance, it states that the sum of independent variables approaches a Gaussian distribution.  FTP name this theorem of probability that provides convergence to the normal curve.
	:. central limit theorem

Answer the following from the analysis of sequence and series.  FTPE.
(10)  Name the type of sequence which, for every epsilon greater than zero, there's an N such that distance(a, b) is less than epsilon when a and b are greater than N.
	:. Cauchy sequences
(10)  Metric spaces in which every Cauchy sequences have a limit that is also in the metric space is known as this, equivalent to the assertion that the space is compact and bounded.
	:. complete
(10)  This test determines that a series converges if the limit of the absolute value of term n+1 over term n is less than one when n goes to infinity.
	:. ratio test

1/1 computer science

Earley's algorithm and Valiant's algorithm are improvements on the "O" of "n cubed" algorithm for building acceptors for its language using dynamic programming, a method called Couke-Younger-Kasami.  It has inherently ambiguous languages, and can be converted efficiently to Chomsky and Greibach normal forms.  Its language is accepted by an unbounded stack-based nondeterministic finite state automaton, i.e. a pushdown automaton, and it consists of variable, start, and terminal symbols, along with a set of production rules.  Accepting a superset of regular languages and a subset of sensitive languages, FTP name this grammar based on neighbor-independent rewrites.
	:. context free grammar

Name these shortest path algorithms.  FTPE.
(10)  Updating a priority queue keyed by the current shortest path estimates, this algorithm named for a Dutchman solves the single source shortest path problem on a directed graph with nonnegative weights, and is O(V squared) time.
	:. Dijkstra's algorithm
(10)  Also able to handle negative edge weights, this algorithm, named for pioneers in dynamic programming and network flows, solves the single source problem in O(VE).
	:. Bellman-Ford algorithm
(10)  The all paires shortest path problem can be solved in O(V cubed) time by using this doubly-named matrix algorithm that returns a matrix of shortest path weights.
	:. Floyd-Warshall algorithm

1/1 astronomy

The dipping of photons into potential wells created by baryons creates red and blue shifts called the Sachs-Wolfe effect, which explains its secondary anisotropy, which arises mostly around the radiation domain after last scattering.  Carlstrom and Joy found that its constituents gain energy in the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, and it came about when protons captured electrons in the recombination era, giving off radiation fluctuating in temperature.  The W-MAP and COBE probes analyzed its irregularities about 2.7 Kelvin, and its existence debunked the steady state theory in favor of the Big Bang.  FTP name this pervasive radiation discovered by Penzias and Wilson.
	:. cosmic microwave background

It was thought by Cassini to possess a moon, Neith, and its atmosphere has higher levels of deuterium, sulfur dioxide, and carbon dioxide.  FTPE.
(10)  Containing a northern Ishtar Terra and a southern Aphrodite Terra, name this mostly craterless planet first visited by Mariner 2, later mapped by Magellan.
	:. Venus
(10)  Found near the Cleopatra Crater on Lakshmi Planum, these highest mountains on Venus is thinner and steeper than anything on Earth because of its rocks' solidity.
	:. Maxwell Montes
(10)  The relatively young surface of Venus contains about 30 of these circular structures with radial spokes extending outward that spew out lava, named for their web-like appearance.
	:. arachnoids